MONROE — There’s an antidote that can help reverse overdoses of powerful opiate drugs, but it hasn’t been available for purchase by the general public.

Now four area pharmacies are offering kits with the medication, called naloxone, or Narcan. It’s part of an early effort by about a dozen pharmacies statewide to make a potentially lifesaving drug easily available. The kits cost about $125 and can be purchased without a prescription.

The drug helps block the effects of prescription pain medications such as oxycodone, Vicodin and codeine, as well as heroin.

Last year, 580 people died in Washington from opioid drug overdoses, 86 of whom were from Snohomish County. Providence Regional Medical Center Everett treated 440 cases of opiate poisonings last year.

Drug overdoses can occur when patients with chronic pain inadvertently take too much of a medication or when someone abuses narcotics, said Steve Erickson, manager for the Providence Pharmacy in Monroe.

The lives of at least half of the people who die of opiate overdoses in Washington each year could be saved if the kits were more widely available, said Caleb Banta-Green, a research scientist at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Erickson has just completed training so that he can advise people when they buy the naloxone kits how to properly administer the medication. The drug is given through a nasal spray. People who administer naloxone are advised to stay with the patient and, if necessary, administer rescue breathing and call for emergency medical assistance.

The kits are being sold in local pharmacies through a collaborative agreement with Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District.

The medication also is distributed to paramedic units throughout the county, said Katie Curtis, a health district spokeswoman.

State law allows bystanders to administer naloxone if they suspect an overdose.

The program to make the kits available at pharmacies throughout the state was launched through the Washington State Pharmacy Association.

“I started talking to people about how pharmacists could be involved in making the kits more available to the public,” said Steve Singer, who works at Woodinville’s Bellegrove Pharmacy and is a board member of the state pharmacy association.

Singer said he has taught several classes for fellow pharmacists on how the kits can be used to reverse opioid overdoses. When he asked if the pharmacists knew of someone at risk for overdosing or who had overdosed, 80 percent to 90 percent raised their hands, he said.

The drugs are far more common than many people realize, said Banta-Green, the UW research scientist. About one in five adults has been prescribed an opiate medication, as have one in 10 adolescents, he said.

Many insurance plans, including Medicaid, will pay for someone at risk of an overdose to buy the naloxone kits, Banta-Green said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

Where to get overdose kits

Naloxone kits, which can reverse opiate drug overdoses, are now available at some local pharmacies. They cost about $125. No prescription is needed.

Providence Pharmacy 9200 N. Kelsey St. Monroe 360-794-5555

QFC Pharmacy 27008 92nd Ave. NW Stanwood 360-629-0662

Haggen Pharmacy 3711 88th St. NE Marysville 360-530-7761

Bellegrove Pharmacy 18800 142nd Ave. NE Woodinville 425-455-2123