zeroing in on the opioid crisis roughly one month after the FDA approved an over-the-counter version of naloxone Advocates are hopeful about the future of the Public Health crisis with the opioid overdose reversal drug now readily available here in New Jersey hundreds of pharmacies are participating in a program that makes naloxone available for free to anyone who asks for it but as Recovery Specialists note accessibility to the drug is just the beginning not the end of treatment senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports come on Mary we gotta wake up still no response nurse Ashley Natali demonstrated how to give a dose of Narcan to someone overdosing on opioids a Quick Squeeze administers the nasal spray to counteract the drug I'm going to push the plunger and that is one dose of Narcan so that will cause someone to go into acute opioid withdrawal which is instant so they don't feel really great when we initially give it I woke up wanting to punch someone because I got narcanned because when you get Arcane it's instant withdrawal Nina Rosario OD'd more than five years ago on heroin cut with fentanyl she regained Consciousness in a South Jersey drug house after getting Narcan twice I was mad and they were like oh you died for like a minute and it's just a vicious cycle because like when I got an arc hand I went and got more and then you know and then I got narcaned again probably like not even a month later and then I finally was like you know what I'm gonna go to rehab Rosario spent months in several rehab programs including Eva's Village in Patterson she's now a group facility recovery coach at recovery centers of America's Raritan Bay House the private facility has 138 beds and offers 30-day inpatient treatment with group and private therapy Natalia is a nursing manager here and gave a Narcan demonstration during an open house today offering multiple free samples of the drug in reality one dose of narcana is not enough especially nowadays with fentanyl being and everything so we can continue to give Narcan every two to three minutes until we have some type of response the FDA in March authorized the sale of Narcan over the counter without a prescription the New Jersey harm reduction Coalition offers it for free via its website between 2017 and 2022 New Jersey logged almost 80 000 incidents of Narcan used to counteract overdoses Andrea Allen came to the demo from Fort Dix where I live out in that part of South Jersey we see a lot of overdoses so having another toolkit would be really important especially people think that soldiers don't do drugs but they do so this is really important to us in New Jersey eight people a day on average die of an opioid overdose and now there's a new threat a drug called xylazine or tranq xylazine is an animal anesthetic that doesn't respond to Narcan but often gets mixed with opioids explains recovery nurse case manager oddly Dobson I hate it so much because now they're adding the fentanyl to it so it makes it even more dangerous than anything else Dobson helps clients transition from inpatient back to their home structure he says it's rough for clients return to inpatient treatment here just last month so they get that Narcan to go home with to be safe with because you know they come in they do have family members who are still outside using that's one of the big things too they're like hey I'm looking for help but when I go back home mom is still using that is still using how am I going to be able to function straight it's actually a scary experience to die and to continue to play Russian roulette with your life every single day and then took me getting Narcan twice to realize oh my God I was just like I can't do this anymore because there might not be a next time Rosario is now studying to become a counselor working to help others fighting addiction in South Amboy I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [Music] [Music] [Music]