Anyone can get Narcan.

Also called Naloxone, the nasal mist blocks and reverses the effects of opiates and opioids, neurologically; which means, if someone has overdosed on heroin or prescription painkillers, it can literally bring them back from the dead.

Generally thought of as a tool of law enforcement, first responders, and other “officials,” Narcan has actually been available to the general public for over a year. Yet, many still don’t know what Narcan is, what it’s for, or that they have access to it.

On Nov. 28, 2015, Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine signed a standing order for Naloxone. Like a public prescription, with no expiration and unlimited refills, the standing order made Naloxone as easy to get for anyone in the state as walking into their pharmacy and asking for it.

The idea, according to the standing order, is to prevent overdose and addiction by putting the power to prevent overdose deaths in everyone’s hands. Families and friends of heroin and opiate addicts, the order states, should be empowered to save lives in emergency situations.

Still, having access to the Narcan itself is only one small component of the attack on the heroin epidemic.

“Prior to obtaining Naloxone under this standing order,” it states, “eligible persons are strongly advised to complete a training program approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.”

Such trainings can be found online, but some are being offered by agencies such as Forest-Warren Human Services. Training in the best practices of Narcan administration, the order states, is not required but “is necessary in order to ensure that eligible persons are protected from legal liability to the extent that Act 139 provides that the receipt of DOH/DOPED-approved training and instructional materials and prompt seeking of additional medical assistance creates a rebuttable presumption that an eligible person acted with reasonable care in administering Naloxone.”

According to Single County Authority Betsy Miller, three trainings are scheduled for the next two weeks in Forest County, at the request of the Forest County Jail.

No trainings have been requested in Warren County as of now, Miller said, but could be made available if interest was there. Part of the Forest County trainings, Miller said, will include one dose of Narcan being distributed to each person in attendance.

One dose of Narcan out of pocket, according to local pharmacist Chris Darling, averages about $150, which is quite an expense.

Darling said that, with not many requests for the drug having been fulfilled, he wasn’t sure how many insurances actually covered the drug, but estimated that there were many.

“At least,” he said, it appears to be “moving in that direction.”

During the Forest-Warren Human Services Advisory Board meeting last week, Department of Health Nurse Cheryl Burton said that she’d been working her way through the pharmacies in Warren to find out what sort of accessibility there is in the area.

Among the 10 major pharmacies within the Warren area, Burton said, very few keep Narcan in stock, but can have the drug available to customers looking to buy it within 24 hours of ordering it.