Before she stopped using drugs for good, Cierra Coon estimates that she overdosed eight times in a span of two weeks in the fall of 2022. One of those times, the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone helped save her life. This story also ran on .
It can be . She was riding in a car on the back roads of the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana when she lost consciousness. Someone in the car grabbed a small bottle of naloxone, sprayed it up her nose, and performed CPR until she came to.
Coon said having quick access to the overdose reversal agent, also known by the brand name Narcan, was incredibly lucky. “The times I wasn’t administered naloxone, it’s a miracle that I made it out,” Coon said. “People brought me back by shocking me with cold water and doing CPR.
But that’s not a for-sure ‘I’m going to bring you back to life,’” Coon said. Nearly two years later, Coon is a recovery coach for a local program, Never Alone Recovery Support Services, and earning a degree as an addiction counselor from Salish Kootenai College. She keeps doses of naloxone in her car in case she needs to help other people.
But, she said, she worries about the drug’s lack of accessibility, particularly in rural areas like her own. The state and tribal health departments’ distribution pipeline has been inconsistent, and the $50 price tag for a two-dose package of naloxone at the nearest Walmart puts it out of reach for many people. “How are we supposed to afford this d.
