(WSYM) — In tonight's 7 UpFront report we're taking a closer look at saving the lives of people who overdose on drugs.
One very effective tool is NARCAN which can treat a narcotic overdose in an emergency situation.
The President and CEO of the Alliance of Coalitions for Health Communities Julie Brenner is joining us to talk about it.
You can see the full interview in the video player above.
"We are the contracted organization to provide [NARCAN] across the county for free," Brenner says. "You can get it by prescription as well. But with this, it makes it easy. You fill out a form, you get the training, and we release the NARCAN directly to you. It is relatively easy to get from us, we also do provide refills, which I do think is really important, especially if you have administered it and saved a life."
"The NARCAN will actually be effective in someone's system for 30 to 90 minutes, so it is really essential that they are met with emergency first responders so they can get them to the proper help that they need," she says.
