So I made a few observations in our travels that stood out to me while on our trip through the beautiful land known as West Virginia.
This one is about how often I saw the word Naloxone. Probably saw it more than that other word that’s everywhere – vaccine. Prior to writing this and researching, WV isn’t the only place doing this. Many states are I just didn’t notice until this trip. And they vary by state but are tax funded solutions to cure the epidemic.
When we were at a gas station in a small little town somewhere between Elkins and White Sulphur Springs, the outside bathroom had a lock that accepted a quarter to open it. We thought that was peculiar. There was a young man with a boy who knew the procedure and explained how it works and gave us an important warning – once you open the door to leave, and you attempt to let the next person in to use it, they will become locked inside. You can’t cheat the door.
A new quarter must be used each time. The little boy nodded in full agreement, clearly having experienced the panic of being trapped inside. Thanks for the heads up! Once we used the restroom, we went into the store which was actually the downstairs of a house but set up like a typical gas station, yet full of delicious looking baked goods and a full table of orders awaiting pick up.
The woman, clearly the business owner and baker, asked sincerely how clean the bathroom was. Told her it was fine, even smelled fine. She apologized for the quarter machine contraption, it was all she could think of to do because it gets so tough to get the drugs out of her bathroom. She claimed it was all too usual for her to have a fully passed out druggie sprawled out in there and in one case, they crashed so hard, they broke the whole commode.
Seemed to be a common theme of other things we noticed.
I saw a billboard of a pretty teen girl with her parents embracing her with the message being that you could save her life if you carry Naloxone and she overdoses. I saw the exact billboard along our adventure from the northern panhandle to the south of Greenbrier. Must be a public health billboard campaign state wide.
The new way to prevent overdoses from the fentanyl poisonings is to make all of us carry Naloxone wherever we go, so when we find our kids or even strangers who are in the throws of death, we can be the life savers and give them the drug. You can go to any pharmacy, no prescription and for free – ask to receive a dose of Naloxone and be vigilant for hunting out those who are overdosing to save them.
According to the 2018 article when state tax dollars bought the first 34,000 doses of Naloxone for the first responders to carry them, for $1 million to the pharma company, which equates to about $30 a dose.
I suppose, maybe everyone should carry one. With an open border of cartel runners with fake pills laced with poison Fentanyl from China, it’s only a matter of time before they add it to anything they mask to look like medication. Of course, the shelf life isn’t very long for Naloxone, so you’ll need to check these pharmacies to keep your supply current and toss what you didn’t need.
They also will allow you to have stickers for your car and buttons for your jacket so you can show the world that you are a first responder seeking to save all addicts around your community from being poisoned. Not sure of the plan to eradicate smuggled poisons from open borders that end up in the hands of our youth, but at least we can be ready to revive them.
