GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – First-year college students will pack up the essentials they need to live on their own as they move away from home.
A trend on social media shows parents and their college student filling up a first aid kit and including more than band-aids, ointments and pain reliever, but Narcan.
Narcan is an opioid reversal medication. It’s the nasal spray version.
Several videos online show parents expressing how they want to make sure their child is prepared for anything.
A potential overdose can happen from drug use, abuse and even from prescribed medication, but if you have the life-saving medication on hand, you can save a life.
“When we talk about Narcan here, we’re thinking of it like a fire extinguisher or a band-aid, you have it on hand, in case something happens, you don’t want to have to use it, but if you do, it’s there,” explained Marissa Powell, the Population Health and Quality Improvement Manager with Brown County Public Health.
“So in the case of teens or young adults going off to college what i like to think of as parents sometimes we assume that our kids know more than they do and it’s really good to have these conversations because if you don’t give them information, accurate information, they’re going to get it from somewhere else,” said Powell.
Brown County Public Health has several resources available for parents and individuals to learn more about drug abuse, use and Narcan.
Health officials encourage talking with your loved ones can make a difference when it comes to prevention.
“It’s so important to come from you because you need to have those conversations of ‘what do they know?’ You may assume that they know never to take a pill, but it may not be that clear to them. And so really hearing that from a parent, and it can start at fairly young, like – I have a three-year-old at home, so we talk to her about ‘you don’t take anything that mommy or daddy doesn’t give you.’ You want to make sure that your kids are aware of what’s out there. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a scary conversation. It can just be ‘before you take something, make sure you know the source,” said Powell.
Narcan can be purchased and found free of charge in several parts of the state.
It ranges between $35 and $50 at some retailers.
Brown County has an interactive map for people to find Narcan available in a vending machine.
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