A dad, brother, and overdose prevention expert makes a case. 

Brad Finegood, our Strategic Advisor for Behavioral Health, sat down with Seattle’s Child Magazine to answer parents’ questions about Narcan, the medication that rapidly reduces opioid overdose. His interview is excerpted with permission. Read the full interview here.

SC: You’re a parent. Narcan is now available over-the-counter. Do you have Narcan at home? 

Finegood: As a parent, I decided it was in our best interest to stock Narcan/naloxone in the house once my kids were teenagers. At the floor level, it never hurts. It’s only going to hurt when you don’t have it when you need it and when you are least expecting it. In my work, I’ve talked to so many parents who had no idea that their kids were using substances — kids who weren’t addicted but were experimenting. Naloxone has no known adverse impacts if it is used on something other than an overdose. So it is extremely low risk. 

One of the things about fentanyl coming into our community is that it comes in the form of a pill, and often, people have a lower perception of the risk with pills. As if because it’s in a pill form, it can’t be that unsafe. Again, it doesn’t require using a needle.  

And I can’t tell you how many parents I’ve talked to after their kids have died who said, ‘If there’s one thing that I wish I would have done, it was to have naloxone in the house so I could have been able to respond.’ 

SC: Should we teach all teens how to administer Narcan? 

Finegood: My kids know how to use naloxone or Narcan and know what an overdose looks like. Because if I’m not home, I want to ensure everything’s okay. 

It’s easy to use. Narcan is administered inter-nasally and is now available over the counter in most pharmacies. I’ve seen it at my local pharmacy; there’s a nice little stand with it.  

I think it helps parents and teens to know that Narcan has no adverse side effects if it’s used on somebody who is not having an overdose. I think that’s important and makes people less fearful about using it. If I was sleeping hard and someone sprayed Narcan up my nose, there would be no positive or negative effect if I was not overdosing on opioids. There are just no negatives. It was also important to me that my kids know what an overdose looks like so that if they’re around their friends or in their community, they can respond.  

Another essential thing is to make sure you and your kids know to call 911 when you feel an overdose is happening. 

SC: What does an overdose look like? 

Finegood: It looks like somebody who’s really overly tired, overly sedated. If you can wake somebody up, they don’t need Narcan. But it’s also critical that you don’t let them go back to sleep. Public Health Seattle-King County has some great posters with visual graphics that help identify overdoses. But it’s really like an oversaturation. It’s a sleep so deep that the person’s respiration goes down so much that they stop breathing.  

If you think somebody’s overdosing, the best thing you can do is ask them if they’re okay. I do this, actually, on a fairly regular basis. If I’m out in the community, and I see somebody who looks like they’re falling asleep in an irregular position, sort of a forward-facing slouch, I will stop and ask, ‘Hey, are you okay? Hey, are you okay?’ then raising the voice slightly more. 

SC: Anything else you’d like to say to parents? 

Finegood: I just want to say it again: I have never met a parent who was sad that they had a conversation with their kid. I’ve only met parents who were sad that they didn’t have a conversation with their kid. 

Originally published January 19, 2023.