\n\tMichelle Andrews<\/span><\/p>\n

Without opioid painkillers to dull the ache in his knees and other joints, Arnold Wilson wouldn\u2019t be able to walk half a block. The 63-year-old former New York City nurse has crippling arthritis for which he takes OxyContin twice a day and oxycodone when he needs additional relief.<\/p>\n

For the past several years, he\u2019s kept another drug on hand as well: naloxone, an overdose reversal drug<\/a> often referred to by the brand name Narcan.<\/p>\n

Although overdose deaths from illicit drugs sold on the street make headlines, the risk of overdose is just as real for patients who take opioids prescribed by their doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives me a sense of relief and security,\u201d said Wilson, who keeps Narcan nasal spray in his car and at home. His pain management doctor at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx prescribed the opioids in 2013, after a bout with meningitis exacerbated joint problems Wilson had as a result of two brain aneurysms and several strokes. His doctor urged him to start carrying Narcan in 2017.<\/p>\n

Naloxone, which begins to reverse an overdose within minutes, is typically administered by others. Though he\u2019s never needed it, Wilson\u2019s 18-year-old daughter knows how to use it. \u201cI\u2019ve instructed her how to do it, in case I\u2019m lethargic,\u201d he said. His girlfriend and friends know what to do, too.<\/p>\n

A recently enacted New York law aims to ensure that naloxone is available if needed by people like Wilson who take prescription opioids.<\/p>\n

Under the law<\/a>, which took effect this summer, doctors must co-prescribe naloxone to certain patients who are at risk of an overdose when writing the patients\u2019 first opioid prescription each year. Risk factors that would trigger the requirement include taking a high daily dose of an opioid (at least 90 morphine milligram equivalents, or MME); taking certain other drugs, like sedative hypnotics; or having a history of substance use disorder.<\/p>\n

At least 10 other states have similar laws,<\/a> according to research by the Network for Public Health Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes patients, especially if they\u2019ve been taking opioids for a long time, don\u2019t understand the risks,\u201d said Dr. Laila Khalid, co-director of the chronic pain clinic at Montefiore Medical Center. The clinic provides free naloxone to patients through the state\u2019s opioid overdose prevention program.<\/p>\n

Someone may forget the timing of their last dose and inadvertently take too much, for example, or have a few extra drinks at a party, Khalid said. Alcohol and some medications, like benzodiazepines, amplify opioids\u2019 effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrug overdose deaths continue to climb, as they have nearly every year for more than two decades,\u201d said Emily Einstein, chief of the Science Policy Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2021, Einstein noted, overdose deaths in the United States topped an estimated 100,000 for the first time, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to this provisional data, Einstein said, the vast majority of those deaths \u2014 over 80,000 \u2014 involved opioids. While most opioid overdose deaths were attributable to illicit fentanyl, approximately 17,000 deaths involved prescription opioids, including methadone.<\/p>\n

Naloxone, available as either a nasal spray or injection, is considered safe and causes few side effects<\/a>. It\u2019s not addictive. The CDC recommends<\/a> that people at risk of overdose carry it with them so that a family member or bystander can administer it if necessary.<\/p>\n

Experts in drug policy point to a key statistic that laws like the one in New York aim to address: In nearly 40% of overdose deaths, another person is present, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n