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Minnesota's new naloxone finder makes it easier to get lifesaving drug

Minnesota creates site to locate naloxone providers

By John Reinan

February 24, 2022 at 12:02AM

The most common naloxone product is a nasal inhaler. (John Minchillo, Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Amid a surge of deaths from opioid overdoses, Minnesota is making it easier to locate a drug that can save the lives of those in crisis.

The Minnesota Department of Health has created an online tool allowing Minnesotans to locate providers of naloxone, a drug that can revive a person suffering from an overdose. More than 400 providers statewide are listed.

Many are well-known drugstore chains, but other community service providers can be found on the tool as well.

The state has experienced a shocking increase in opioid overdose deaths. Since 2010, overdose deaths have tripled. In 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, 678 Minnesotans died of an opioid overdose. That number is also nearly 13 times greater than the 54 residents who died of an opioid overdose in 2000.

The tool will allow drug users, as well as family members and loved ones, to quickly find a provider of the drug that could save a life.

"There tend to be a lot of questions about where can a regular person go to get naloxone," said Cody Bassett, the department's naloxone coordinator. "This seemed like a good way to just put the information out there specifically for the state of Minnesota."

The spike in opioid deaths in Minnesota mirrors national trends.

"This increase could be due to a number of factors," said Mary DeLaquil, a Health Department epidemiologist. "It could be related to the pandemic, in terms of economic stress, isolation and/or potential barriers to substance use disorder and recovery support services, the trauma of systemic and structural racism, or something else entirely."

But the key factor, DeLaquil said, is the widespread availability of synthetic opioids, such as illegally manufactured fentanyl, as well as an increase in the use of methamphetamine and other stimulants by users who take more than one drug.

Under Minnesota law, a pharmacist is allowed to dispense naloxone without a doctor's prescription if the pharmacy enrolls in a program created by the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy. All the providers listed in the online tool are in the program, meaning that a drug user or a family member can get naloxone without making a doctor's visit.

Prices vary based on insurance coverage, but Bassett said the most common naloxone product, a two-dose nasal inhaler, is usually available for less than $20. Even at full price with no insurance coverage, it typically would cost about $75.

For drug users or those worried about loved ones who use drugs, having naloxone on hand is like keeping an EpiPen available for those who suffer from allergic reactions, Bassett said.

"It's definitely not the silver bullet," he said. "It's another tool for the toolbox."

The online naloxone finder is "a tangible tool for people in Minnesota to inform them and get them access to a lifesaving medication, whether it's for themselves or someone else," Bassett said.

about the writer

John Reinan

Reporter

John Reinan is a news reporter covering Greater Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. For the Star Tribune, he's also covered the western Twin Cities suburbs, as well as marketing, advertising and consumer news. He's been a reporter for more than 20 years and also did a stint at a marketing agency.