How to reverse an opioid overdose
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Opioid overdoses don’t have to be fatal if the person gets help in time.
In recent years naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, has become more widely available in the United States. Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, became available without prescription in pharmacies in 2023. That means more people can help reverse overdoses. Despite showing signs of decline, the number of people dying nationwide from overdoses eclipsed 100,000 annually from 2020 to 2023, according to national health data.
Host Elahe Izadi talks with producer Elana Gordon about the lifesaving effects of the medication. They walk through the steps of how to use Narcan and what it feels like to experience an opioid overdose reversal.
Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick. It was edited by Lucy Perkins with help from Alison MacAdam and mixed by Sam Bair.
Download The Post’s step-by-step guide for how to administer the naloxone nasal spray here.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In March 2023, Jolanta Bennell was going about her day, about to hop on a subway in Brooklyn, New York. |
| 0:09.7 | So I walked into the station, and I noticed a woman standing there sort of staring at the ground. |
| 0:15.7 | And when I got a little closer, I saw that what she was staring at was a guy who was lying face down on the platform. |
| 0:24.0 | Jolanta and this woman could tell something was wrong. |
| 0:28.1 | The man looked sick, unresponsive, and needed help. |
| 0:33.1 | They decided to call 911. |
| 0:36.2 | Then, Jolanta had a thought. This man could be having an overdose. And then she |
| 0:42.8 | remembered she had something that could help, Narcan nasal spray. It's the brand name for this |
| 0:48.6 | medication, Naloxone. It can reverse an opioid overdose fast. |
| 1:01.9 | So I thought, well, okay, and I got the narcan out, and I rolled him over, and I gave him the narcan. |
| 1:06.6 | And about 10 seconds later, so he started waking up. |
| 1:09.0 | The narcan appeared to work. |
| 1:13.6 | Soon, police arrived, and the other bystander stayed with the man. |
| 1:16.2 | And Jolanda hopped on her train. |
| 1:20.7 | And then when the train came, I got on the train because there didn't seem to be anything else for me to do. |
| 1:23.2 | The EMS was on their way. The cops were there. |
| 1:32.1 | I think Jolanta's experience is really striking because here's somebody with pretty minimal training who has the power to save a life, essentially. |
| 1:37.6 | That's Alana Gordon. She's a producer for Post Reports. And she was recently digging into |
| 1:43.1 | national health data |
| 1:44.3 | about drug overdoses in the U.S. |
| 1:47.3 | While there are signs of decline, |
| 1:49.4 | the number of people dying nationwide from overdoses |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -35 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.