Does Narcan Save Lives?

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Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the tens of thousands of people dying each year as a result of opioid use/abuse. In response, policymakers have tried to find appropriate responses to reduce these types of deaths.In a previous post, for example, Brian discussed Casey Mulligan’s work on the topic. Casey’s works focuses on the idea that there are prescription opioids and illicit opioids and these tend to have different prices. As a result, consumers have a non-convex budget set and a change in the price of prescription opioids can have dramatic effects on consumption since consumers must substitute away from the higher-priced prescriptions to a lower-priced illicit alternative. Rising (prescription) prices can lead to more consumption. This has important implications for policy and highlights the important role that price theory can play in the evaluation of policies designed to reduce opioid use.In this post, I would like to address a particular type of policy response that requires a different type of analysis. In my home state of Mississippi, the state legislature has approved public schools to keep Narcan in stock. Narcan is a medication that can be used to reverse an opioid overdose. The University of Mississippi, where I work, even offers a training program through the School of Pharmacy that trains people on how to respond to opioid overdoses as well as how to administer Narcan.News accounts discussing this legislation and these training programs tend to highlight success stories of people saved from opioid overdoses by receiving …