WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel was in Wausau Thursday afternoon to announce a partnership with Adapt Pharma Inc. who manufactures Narcan, a life-saving drug for those suffering from an opiate overdose.
There has been some pushback on the use of Narcan saying that users may think that they’re invincible because the drug can save the. Schimel says they’re only going to be able to help the addicts that are alive.
“There’s no invincibility factor that is causing them to be more likely to use,” he said. “They’re going to use until we get them into effective treatment and get them back to clean and sober. And we can’t get them back to clean and sober if we can’t save their lives when they overdose. And without the availability of these drugs, they are going to die.”
Schimel says that numbers show that most people who try prescription drugs for the first time are either steal them or having them shared with them.
“We know that 71% of the time when people start abusing prescription painkillers they didn’t get them directly from a doctor, they didn’t get them from a traditional drug dealer, they either had someone share their drugs with them or they stole them from someone,” said Schimel.
Schimel says that agencies who purchase Narcan from Adapt Pharma will now be eligible for a 40% discount on the drug reducing the price of a two-dose package from $125 to $75.
