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How Narcan Saves Lives in Opioid Overdoses · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Hi everyone, it's Justin here, Voices for Voices.
• 0:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us today.
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  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're glad to have you with us.
• 0:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome back.
• 0:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you've been with us before, this is your first show.
• 0:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome to the Voices for Voices family.
• 0:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So inside a human body, a stream of molecules rush through the circulatory system, heading to the brain.
• 1:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These are opioids.
• 1:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They could be from a prescription painkiller or from illicit drugs, but they all have the same destination.
• 1:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They arrive at the brain's stem, the part of our brain that keeps us alive, managing the automatic life sustaining drive to breathe.
• 1:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: As the opioid molecules latch onto docking stations or receptors, a light that represents our breathing drive begins to flicker.
• 1:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It dims.
• 1:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The rhythmic pulse slows, becomes erratic, and then it stops.
• 1:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The screen goes dark.
• 1:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When someone overdoses on opioids, this is what's happening.
• 1:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their brain is shutting down their ability to breathe.
• 2:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a silent, fatal shutdown.
• 2:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For a long time, this was often the end of the story.
• 2:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But what if there was a way to fight back?
• 2:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What if science could launch a counterattack at the molecular level, restarting the system in just a few minutes?
• 2:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Well there is.
• 2:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a medication called naloxon, most famously known by its brand name, Narcan.
• 2:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're going to take a journey into the brain to understand not just that it works, but precisely how it wins a microscopic battle to save a life.
• 2:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't just about a drug, it's about the incredible power of science to reverse what would otherwise be a fatal process and how that power is now in the hands of everyday people.
• 3:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The opioid crisis in the science of the overdose.
• 3:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's jump in.
• 3:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To really get why Narcan is important, it's so important.
• 3:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First, we have to understand what it's up against.
• 3:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Opioids.
• 3:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The term opioid covers a whole class of drugs.
• 3:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Some come from nature, others are made in a lab.
• 3:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But they all interact with opioid receptors in our bodies to produce powerful effects, especially pain relief.
• 3:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The story starts with the opium poppy, a plant used for thousands of years.
• 3:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: From this plant, we get natural opioids like morphine and codine.
• 3:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These have been essential medicines for severe pain.
• 4:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Scientists then tweaked the morphine molecule to create semi-synthetic opioids like oxycodone and hydrocodone, powerful prescription painkillers that became household names.
• 4:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And finally, there are purely synthetic opioids made from scratch in a lab.
• 4:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This group includes methadone used for pain in addiction treatment, and the incredibly strong fentanyl, a drug first made for intense surgical pain, that is now a main driver of the overdose crisis.
• 4:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their job is simple.
• 4:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Block pain signals.
• 4:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When you feel pain, opioids can intercept those signals, turning down the volume on pain and sometimes creating a feeling of calm or euphoria.
• 5:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For millions, these drugs are a lifeline, but that power comes with a dark side, for potential for a deadly overdose.
• 5:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The scale of this problem is huge.
• 5:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What started as a public health issue around prescription drugs has turned into a full blown crisis, now dominated by illicitly made synthetic opioids.
• 5:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The latest provisional data from the CDC Center of Disease Control predicts that for the 12-month period ending in February 2026, there were over 68,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States.
• 6:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While this number is thankfully a decrease from past years, it's still a devastating toll.
• 6:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The huge majority of these deaths involve opioids, with fentanyl being the main culprit.
• 6:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Each number is a person, a child, a parent, a friend, lost to what is often a preventable medical emergency.
• 6:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To understand how a medicine meant to help can cause such harm, we have to go deep into the brain.
• 6:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The real danger of an opioid overdose isn't the drug itself, but what it does to our most vital automatic function that's breathing.
• 7:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We do every day, all day long.
• 7:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Deep in the most primitive part of our brain is the brainstem.
• 7:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Think of it as the body's autopilot.
• 7:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It handles all the things we don't think about, our heartbeat, our blood pressure, and most important, our breathing.
• 7:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A specific spot in the brain stem, the medulla oblongata, is the respiratory control rhythm of nerve signals.
• 7:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It constantly checks the oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood and sends out a steady rhythm of nerve signals.
• 7:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Again, those signals tell our diaphragm and our chest muscles to contract and relax, pulling air in and pushing air out every moment of our lives.
• 8:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This whole system is covered in tiny molecular docking stations called receptors.
• 8:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The most important ones for our story are the MU or mu opioid receptors.
• 8:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Think of these receptors as locks, and opioid molecules as perfectly shaped keys.
• 8:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When an opioid, whether it's morphine or illicit fentanyl, enters our brain, it finds and binds to these mu opioid receptors.
• 8:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When the opioid key turns the receptor lock, it starts a chemical chain reaction.
• 8:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: One effect is the release of dopamine, which causes pleasure and euphoria.
• 9:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Another is blocking pain signals.
• 9:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But a third, much more dangerous effect happens in the brainstem.
• 9:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When opioids bind to the mu receptors there, they act like a dimmer switch on the nerve signals that tell the body to breathe.
• 9:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: With a normal therapeutic dose, this effect is small, but in an overdose, the brain is flooded with opioid molecules.
• 9:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They saturate the receptors, and that dimmer switch gets turned all the way down.
• 9:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The brain's command to breathe is catastrophically suppressed.
• 9:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is what an opioid overdose looks like medically.
• 9:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A quiet, progressive shutdown.
• 10:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It starts with extreme drowsiness.
• 10:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The person might nod out.
• 10:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their pupils will shrink to the size of pinpoint.
• 10:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their breathing becomes dangerously slow and shallow.
• 10:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A condition called respiratory depression.
• 10:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You might hear gurgling or snoring sounds as their airway gets partly blocked.
• 10:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: As breathing slows even more, the oxygen in their blood plummets.
• 10:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their skin, especially around the lips and fingertips, might turn bluish or grayish color.
• 10:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is a sign of severe oxygen deprivation called cyanysis.
• 10:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Eventually, breathing stops.
• 10:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The heart, starved of oxygen, beats erratically for a few more minutes, and then it stops too.
• 11:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The primary cause of death is almost always this lack of oxygen known as hypoxia.
• 11:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a quiet death.
• 11:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: All because a flood of molecules has silenced the most basic command of life.
• 11:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And it's this exact mechanism that Narcan was designed to defeat.
• 11:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's talk a little bit about the hero, the discovery and development of naloxon.
• 11:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In this story of opioid crisis, the hero is a molecule, naloxon.
• 11:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But it wasn't created in a heroic effort to stop overdoses.
• 11:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Instead, it came from scientific curiosity and a bit of luck while trying to solve a much more common problem.
• 12:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's go back to the 1960s, to a small private pharmaceutical lab in New York.
• 12:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A chemist named Dr.
• 12:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Jack Fishman was working on a side project.
• 12:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: His main focus was cancer research, but he was also working for a lab that focused on narcotics.
• 12:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their goal wasn't to reverse overdoses, but to fix one of the most common side effects of long-term opioid use, constipation.
• 12:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To get what they were doing, we need to understand a key idea.
• 12:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Agonist versus antagonists.
• 12:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: An opioid like morphine is an agonist.
• 13:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When its key enters the receptor's lock, it turns it and activates it, causing all opioid effects, pain relief, euphoria, and slowed breathing.
• 13:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Fishman was looking for an antagonist, a competing key.
• 13:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: An antagonist is a molecule that fits into the receptor lock, but doesn't turn it.
• 13:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Instead, it just sits there, physically blocking the agonist key from getting in.
• 13:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In nineteen sixty one, Fishman synthesized a new compound that had a very special property.
• 13:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It was a pure opioid antagonist.
• 13:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It had an incredibly strong attraction to the mu opioid receptor, much stronger than morphine.
• 14:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But it didn't activate the receptor at all.
• 14:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They named it Naloxone.
• 14:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: At first, the company that developed it, Endopharmaceuticals, didn't see much use for the drug.
• 14:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The patent was filed, but the drug mostly sat on a shelf.
• 14:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It wasn't until 1971, some ten years plus later, that naloxon was officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, for treating opioid overdose.
• 14:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Even then, it was used almost exclusively in emergency rooms and ambulances given by injection.
• 14:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Dr.
• 14:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Fishman, the story took a tragic turn decades later.
• 15:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In 2004, his own stepson, Jonathan, died from a heroic heroin overdose.
• 15:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: At the time, the life-saving drug his stepfather had invented was still restricted to medical settings and wasn't available to save him.
• 15:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This tragedy motivated his family to become fierce advocates for making naloxone more widely available.
• 15:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The journey of naloxone from a niche hospital drug to a community lifesaver was driven by advocacy and innovation.
• 15:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: As the opioid crisis grew in the 90s and the 2000s, harm reduction pioneers began pushing for take-home naloxon, empowering people who use drugs and their families to reverse overdoses.
• 16:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The first community programs started in the mid-1990s, proving that everyday people could use naloxone safely and effectively.
• 16:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The real game changer was a development of user-friendly delivery methods.
• 16:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The injectable form required training, but then came the auto injector.
• 16:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The biggest breakthrough, though, was the pre-packaged nasal spray, which got its first FDA approval as a prescription device in 2015.
• 16:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This version sold under the brand Narcan, required no needles, and was as simple as an allergy spray.
• 17:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This innovation came with policy revolution.
• 17:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: States passed laws to increase access, and in March 2023, the FDA approved Narcan Nasal Spray for over-the-counter sale nationwide.
• 17:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For the first time, this life-saving medicine could be brought and bought at a pharmacy or convenience store without a prescription.
• 17:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Today, naloxon is the standard of care for reversing an opioid overdose, recommended by the CDC and the World Health Organization.
• 17:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The hero molecule was finally free.
• 17:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The medical story, the molecular battle for the brain.
• 18:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now for the main event, the microscopic battle inside the brain where Narcan is used.
• 18:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is where chemistry and physiology race against time.
• 18:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's go back to our analogy of receptors as locks and molecules as keys.
• 18:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Imagine the brainstem during an overdose.
• 18:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a city in a blackout.
• 18:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The breathing control center is dark because countless mu opioid receptor locks are filled and activated by opioid keys.
• 18:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The person is in breathing.
• 18:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The clock is ticking.
• 18:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Then Narcan arrives.
• 18:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When the nasal spray is used, millions of naloxone molecules are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and rushed to the brain.
• 19:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They are like a SWAT team of master keys on a mission.
• 19:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What happens next is all about binding affinity.
• 19:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Basically, how sticky a molecule is to a receptor.
• 19:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Naloxon was engineered to have a much, much higher binding affinity for the mu opioid receptor than most opioids like heroin or oxycodon.
• 19:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Think of it like this the opioid key is held in the lock by a regular magnet.
• 19:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The naloxon key is a powerful electromagnet.
• 19:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When a naloxon molecule shows up, its superior binding affinity allows it to literally pry the opioid key out of the lock and take its place.
• 20:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The opioid molecule is kicked off the receptor.
• 20:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Naloxon wins the fight for that spot.
• 20:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And here's the most important part.
• 20:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When the naloxon master key goes into the lock, it does not turn it.
• 20:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a pure antagonist.
• 20:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It just sits there blocking any other opioid keys from getting in.
• 20:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The receptors is neutralized.
• 20:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The signal to suppress breathing is instantly cut off.
• 20:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: As naloxon molecules spread through the brainstem, they evict opioids from millions of receptors all at once.
• 20:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: One by one, the lights in the city turn back on.
• 21:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The respiratory control center wakes up and gets back to work.
• 21:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The brain starts sending life-sustaining signals to the lungs again.
• 21:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The person takes a breath, then another.
• 21:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This can happen incredibly fast.
• 21:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Often within two to three minutes after getting Narcan, the molecule battle is won, marked by the sound of a breath.
• 21:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's how Narcan saves a life.
• 21:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: However, the fight has gotten tougher with the rise of fentanyl.
• 21:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is not only extremely potent, roughly fifty to a hundred times more potent than morphine.
• 22:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But it's all very but it's also very sticky with a high binding affinity of its own.
• 22:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Because it's lipophilic, meaning it's easily absorbed by fat, it can redistribute into the body's tissues and be released over time, making an overdose more intense and longer lasting.
• 22:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This means that one dose of narcan might not be enough.
• 22:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It might clear many receptors, but an overwhelming number of fentanyl molecules can remain.
• 22:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or as the Narcan starts to wear off, fentanyl can re-enter the bloodstream and cause the person to slip back into an overdose.
• 22:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's why public health experts now say that with fentanyl, more than one dose of Narcan might be needed.
• 23:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Wow.
• 23:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: There's another side to this story.
• 23:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What happens when someone who is physically dependent on opioids is revived with Narcan?
• 23:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The experience can be rough.
• 23:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: By kicking all the opioids off the receptors at once, naloxon puts the person into immediate acute withdrawal.
• 23:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is called precipitated withdrawal.
• 23:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They might wake up agitated, sick, and disoriented with symptoms like body aches, sweating, and nausea.
• 23:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's important to understand that while precipitated withdrawal is unpleasant, it is generally not life-threatening.
• 23:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Whereas the overdose at reversed absolutely is.
• 24:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The discomfort is a manageable side effect of a life-saving action.
• 24:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Finally, remember that an aloxon is temporary.
• 24:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It typically blocks opioid receptors for 30 to 90 minutes.
• 24:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Many opioids, especially fentanyl, or long-acting pills can stay in the body for much longer.
• 24:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This creates a dangerous window where the naloxone can wear off before the opioids do, causing the person to overdose again.
• 24:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's why calling 911 is always a non-negotiable step.
• 24:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Narcan buys time, but it's not a substitute for professional medical care.
• 25:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The real world, how you can save a life.
• 25:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We've seen the science from the brain shutting down to the molecular battle that restarts it.
• 25:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's bring this knowledge into the real world.
• 25:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Knowing how Narcan works is powerful, but knowing how to use it is what saves lives.
• 25:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Being prepared to respond to an overdose turns you from a bystander into a potential first responder.
• 25:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First, you need to recognize the signs of an overdose.
• 25:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's different from someone just being very high.
• 25:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Look for this combination of red flags.
• 25:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First, loss of consciousness.
• 25:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The person can't be woken up even if you shout their name or shake them.
• 25:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Second, slowed or stopped breathing.
• 26:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the critical sign.
• 26:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the most critical sign.
• 26:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their breathing might be very shallow, sound like gurgling or a deep snore, or have stopped all completely.
• 26:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Third, pinpoint pupils.
• 26:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The black centers of their eyes will be tiny dots.
• 26:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And fourth, blue or gray skin.
• 26:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Their lips, their skin, and nail beds may look pale or ashen.
• 26:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A sign they aren't getting enough oxygen.
• 26:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you see these signs, assume it's a life-threatening overdose and act fast.
• 26:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Here's your step-by-step plan.
• 26:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step one, try to get a response.
• 26:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Shout the person's name.
• 26:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: There's no response.
• 27:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You can try a sternal rub.
• 27:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Make a fist and rub your knuckles firmly on the center of their breastbone.
• 27:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Someone who is just asleep will react, but someone in a deep overdose likely won't.
• 27:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step two, call 911 immediately.
• 27:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the most important step.
• 27:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Say clearly, someone is unresponsive and not breathing, and give your exact location.
• 27:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Getting professional help on the way is essential.
• 27:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Many people worry about legal trouble, but all 50 states in the District of Columbia have some form of Good Samaritan law.
• 27:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These laws are designed to provide legal protection from certain drug-related charges for the person who calls for help, and sometimes for the person overdosing.
• 28:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The scope of these laws varies widely by state, but they exist to prioritize saving a life over punishment.
• 28:15
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Never let fear stop you from making that call.
• 28:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step three, administer Narcan Naloxone.
• 28:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you have Narcan, use it.
• 28:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The nasal spray is designed to be simple.
• 28:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Just remember, peel, place, and press.
• 28:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First, peel back the tap to open the pri open up the package.
• 28:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a single use device.
• 28:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Ready to go.
• 28:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Don't prime or test, as that will waste the dose.
• 28:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Next, hold the device with your thumb on the bottom of the plunger and your two fingers on the nozzle.
• 29:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Tilt the person's head back and place the tip of the nozzle into one nostril until your fingers touch their nose.
• 29:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Finally, press the plunger firmly.
• 29:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You'll hear a click as the dose is administered.
• 29:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's it.
• 29:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step four, begin rescue breathing if you can.
• 29:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The main problem in an overdose is a lack of oxygen.
• 29:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While waiting for Narkin to work, you can help by getting air into their lungs.
• 29:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Tilt their head back, pinch their nose, and give one breath into their mouth every five to six seconds.
• 29:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Watch for their chest to rise.
• 29:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step five, stay in support.
• 29:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Don't leave the person alone.
• 29:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It can take two to three minutes for Narcan to work.
• 30:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While you wait, roll them onto their side into the recovery position.
• 30:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This keeps their airway open and prevents them from choking if they vomit.
• 30:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: To do this, straighten the arm closest to you.
• 30:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bring their other arm across their chest, bend their far knee, and gently roll them towards you.
• 30:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Step six, give more if needed.
• 30:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Keep watching their breathing.
• 30:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If after two to three minutes they're still unresponsive, give a second dose of narcan in the other nostril.
• 30:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: With fentanyl, multiple doses are often needed.
• 30:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Stay with the person until help arrives.
• 30:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When they get there, tell them you gave naloxon and how many doses.
• 30:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Now our call to action, CTA, and conclusion.
• 31:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We've explored the science behind an opioid overdose and watched how the molecular hero naloxon wins the battle to restart a life.
• 31:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We've gone from complex science to a simple plan.
• 31:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Recognize the signs, call 911, and give Narcan.
• 31:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The science is amazing, but its real power is in its use by people like you.
• 31:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This knowledge empowers you.
• 31:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You can now recognize a medical emergency that might just look like someone is sleeping to someone else.
• 31:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And now you have a blueprint for how to act.
• 31:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So here's your call to action.
• 32:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First, share this video.
• 32:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The science and the steps you just learned could empower someone else to act in a crisis.
• 32:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Spreading this information helps to build a chain of knowledge that saves lives.
• 32:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Second, be prepared.
• 32:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Learn where to get naloxone in your community.
• 32:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's now available over the counter nationwide, often at local pharmacies and sometimes for free from community health groups.
• 32:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Having it in your car or home is like having a fire extinguisher.
• 32:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You hope you never use it, but if you have to, it can be the most important tool you have.
• 32:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Finally, consider getting trained.
• 32:53
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Many local health departments and community groups offer free hands-on training sessions.
• 33:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This builds the confidence to make sure that if you ever face the situation, your response is fast and sure.
• 33:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: An opioid overdose is a medical emergency, but it doesn't have to be a fatal one.
• 33:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a moment where biology is failing, but where a quick, informed person can reset the system.
• 33:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: By understanding the science and being ready to act, you hold the power to be the difference.
• 33:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You can be the one who fights back.
• 33:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us on this episode of the show.
• 33:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: If you can give us the big thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, reshare, repost, reach into pocket, purse, satchel on your desk.
• 34:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Pull out your phone if it's not already out.
• 34:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Please share the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show with 25, 50, 100 contacts, or maybe your whole organization.
• 34:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 34:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And we'll see you on another episode of the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show.
• 34:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Until then, let's celebrate all the voices in the world.
• 34:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And let's be a voice not only for ourselves, but for somebody else in need.
• 34:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Have a great day.
• 34:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We'll talk to you and we'll see you soon.
• 34:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bye bye for now.