August 31, 2020

Dr. Mark Calarco, AAC’s national medical director for clinical diagnostics, had an op-ed featured in The Hill that calls for easy access of the opioid overdose-reversing antidote naloxone, or Narcan.

The pandemic has had a significant effect on the other epidemic that the country is simultaneously enduring – the opioid epidemic. The rates of opioid overdoses have skyrocketed in nearly every state, and drug deaths have increased 13% compared to 2019. The remedy to this, according to Dr. Calarco is to have Narcan available everywhere.

“In order to stem our national overdose epidemic, Narcan must be omnipresent in our public places, in our workplaces and schools and in out homes,” said Dr. Calarco. “This is not an unachievable or unreasonable goal.”

Dr. Calarco’s op-ed can be read in its entirety at The Hill.