Doctors, pharmacists push for opioid overdose reversal drug in homes



SEATTLE -- About 130 people a day are dying from opioid overdoses and those numbers are rising, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, even though fewer pain medications are being prescribed overall.

Experts believe patients are in pain and sometimes take more medication than they intend, or mix the drug with others.

Some doctors are demanding that Narcan, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose, be available to everybody prescribed opioids and available at home.

Dr. David Taubin, chief of pain medicine for UW Medicine, and Ryan Oftebro, a pharmacist and CEO of Kelly-Ross Pharmacy Group, joined Q13 News This Morning to discuss the opioid epidemic.