David I. Deyhimy MD, FASAM (Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine)

There is an organization partnering with non-profit organizations to provide antidotes and reversal medication for accidental overdoses at music festivals. The drug naloxone, also known as Narcan, is used to reverse the effects of an overdose. However, with the emergence of fentanyl, a more potent drug, higher doses of medication are often needed. It is important for the public to be aware of naloxone and how to properly administer it. This partnership is raising awareness and distributing the medication at music festivals, including the Governor's Ball in New York City and C here Now in New Jersey. Gibson Guitars is also involved in a program called TEMPO, which provides training and medication to musicians and support staff. The shift in treating addiction as a medical condition rather than a crime is crucial in getting people the help they need. Big spring and summer music festivals, unfortunately, can be associated with accidental overdoses. And there's an organization that is partnering with a couple of great non-profit organizations to help out and make some antidotes and some reversal medication available at some of the year's busiest music festivals. Some of those that are happening right here in New Jersey as we make our way in through the spring and summer. And my guest who's joining me here at the RNJ Morning Program, all the way from the West Coast to talk about what's going on here, fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and also just happens to be a big music fan in his own right, so he's going to give us a really good perspective on this, Dr. David Dehimi is with me here at the RNJ Morning Program. Dr. Dehimi, Burt Barron, WRNJ Radio in New Jersey. How are you today? I'm doing great, Burt. How are you? Thanks for getting up so early. I'm doing well. Sorry, the Anaheim Ducks are not having the kind of season that I'm sure you were hoping for, but good to talk to you here this morning. Some things that are going on this year, but let's back up first and just talk about one of these overdose drugs that is available. There's a lot of talk in the news, doctor, about naloxone. It's something that we've been talking about here in New Jersey for a long time to reverse the effects of an overdose. From your perspective as a medical doctor, what do you want people to know about naloxone and other similar drugs? Naloxone is a drug that basically pushes opioids off of the receptors in your brain that are responsible for causing an overdose. The most common name for naloxone or the most common formulation is Narcan. That's a four milligram formulation of intranasal naloxone that's been around for some years now and is very effective at reversing overdoses. What's happened more recently, as everybody's probably heard about, is fentanyl. It has sort of emerged as the number one drug that is responsible for overdose deaths now, and fentanyl is unlike the drugs that came before it because it's 50 times more potent on average than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. That being the case, it causes overdose deaths much more quickly in someone who's experiencing an overdose and it often takes a higher dose of medication like naloxone to reverse the overdose. And having people, doctor, that are able to administer this the correct way. I know there's some clinics that have been popping up now that it's available, I believe in an over-the-counter form available here in New Jersey, where there's clinics that actually teach people the safe way and the correct way to administer these overdose drugs. What's an important thing for people to know, for the public at large to know, in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you could save someone from an overdose to be able to properly administer this antidote? Yeah, actually, the drug itself is very safe and if it's given to somebody who's not experiencing an overdose, nothing will happen, it won't cause any problems. And as far as administering it, a drug like Narcan comes in a box of two intranasal injectors and you simply put them in the nose and press a plunger. And as I was alluding to a minute ago, these are four milligram nasal injectors, but oftentimes that's not enough to reverse a fentanyl overdose, so a newer formulation of this drug has been developed in the last couple of years called Plexado, and it's basically the exact same thing as Narcan. It's two pre-filled nasal injectors, but with twice the amount of naloxone, so that's eight milligrams per nasal injector. And both Narcan and Plexado are incredibly easy to use and they're safe. Excellent. And this is K-L-O-2-X's ADO, in case people want more information, that's how you spell this one? Yep. Plexado. Gotcha. Okay. And a partnership that is happening this year with some non-profits, to just kind of get the word out and to raise some awareness about this, some big music festivals, including one in particular that's going to happen here in our state, Doctor, later on this year, that is taking place in one of our beachfront communities. And this is all being done in harmony with the organizers. We have our state and local governments are involved in this, too. Talk about what's happening with the summer music festival scene. Yeah. So Hikma, which produces Plexado, has partnered with a number of non-profit organizations, and one of them is called This Must Be the Place. And what they do is they go to concerts and festivals and provide on-the-site distribution of Plexado and training about overdose prevention, overdose awareness, and how, in the event of an overdose, you can use this medication and increase the chances that somebody's going to survive. So the main thing here is awareness is key, that everybody understands that the entire drug supply is now contaminated with fentanyl, a much more dangerous drug than heroin ever was, and the importance of people carrying naloxone with them and having it in their homes. There's never been a greater need for people to carry this drug, just as you would an EpiPen if you had a nut allergy, for example. And two of the events by you, one's the Governor's Ball in New York City, and the other one's C here Now in New Jersey, this organization, This Must Be the Place, will be at both and will be distributing Plexado and educating people about overdose reversal and awareness. That's great news. And that C Here Now show, Dr. Enno, how familiar you are with that one, that is on the beachfront in Asbury Park, and that's popped up in recent years, and it draws a gigantic crowd over three days. I mean, they'll bring out a couple of really big headliners that'll play, and then there's, you know, Asbury Park, if you're familiar, has a great local music scene, and they have local bands that kind of round out the rest of the days. So just to have this presence here, I think, is going to be a real, real important thing. My guest joining me this morning at the RNJ Morning Program, Dr. David Dahimi, fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and he's here talking about Cloxato, and it's a brand new drug, a brand new antidote drug to help reverse the effects of overdoses. And Dr., I'm sure you follow the headlines around the country. We recently had a young, single mom who was just wrapping up a shift at a cheesecake factory. She worked at one of the malls here in New Jersey, and lost her life as a result of something that she was using being contaminated with the fentanyl, and it continues to be something that's dominating the headlines. So this is something that, if you're going to talk about the bad stuff, you know, talk about the good stuff, too, and that there's some help and some hope for people. Yeah, this is the number one cause of death for young people, or accidental cause of death for more than 10 years now. And people need to understand that fentanyl is, the entire drug supply is essentially fentanyl now. Not just opioids. You know, 60% of these pills last year had enough illicit fentanyl in one pill to kill a person. And it's in cocaine, it's in methamphetamine, it's pressed into fake Adderall, it's pressed into fake Xanax. So there essentially is no safe drug that you don't obtain through a doctor's prescription. So having everybody aware of what the situation is, and carrying the drug that can effectively reverse an overdose, effectively and safely reverse an overdose, is so important. And that's my message, is that almost every overdose has a bystander present, and if that person was carrying a drug like Fluxado, they could intervene immediately and save a life. Yeah, very true. It's about saving lives, no doubt about it. One final thing I did want to cover with you this morning, Doctor. We're a music station. We love guitars. We love music here at RNJ Radio. Really cool partnership involving the manufacturer of Gibson guitars. They're going to be involved in this campaign also this summer. What's Gibson Guitars doing? Gibson Guitars is partnering with TEMPO, it's a program called Training and Empowering Musicians to Prevent Overdose. And what it is, is that they're doing the same basic thing as This Must Be the Place, is they're providing training and distributing Fluxado, not only to the musicians, but to all the people that support the concert, the lighting guys, the people, the transportation people, the people that do sets. So in front of the stage is the musicians, and they're getting this training and this medication, but also all the support staff behind the stage. So it's very similar to This Must Be the Place, but it's sort of a more directly targeted at the music industry itself. Excellent to know. It's been a great summer of live music, a great spring and summer of live music around the country, here in New Jersey as well, of course, these big festivals, and it's good to know that they're going to be a little bit safer now as well. And Doctor, I'm so happy that I've seen in recent years that there's been a shift in this country, and maybe you on the West Coast, maybe you've seen it there too, where we're viewing people with addiction problems no longer as criminals, thank goodness, and we're treating them as people with an illness, with a sickness, with a disease, who need help, and we're getting the help out to people that have drug addiction issues, and I'm sure you and I feel the same way, that let's hope that continues to go in that direction. Stop criminalizing people who have addiction and issues with that, and get them the help they need. It's a medical condition. Let's get people the help they need and get it to them now. Yeah, that's exactly right. This is a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain, and it's not just criminalizing, it's a stigma that is a problem here, because we look at people that have problems with drugs or alcohol as being somehow different or weak, and in reality, they have significant brain changes that make it very, very hard to stop, and in some cases, very, very dangerous to stop. We have effective medications, and we just need to use them more. And the first thing we need to do is just, everyone has to understand that this is a chronic disease of the brain, and that we have very effective treatments for these diseases. Yeah, it's good to know there's help that's out there. Dr. David Dahimi, as we wrap up, any place where people can go, a website, social media, maybe just to get a little bit more about our conversation that we had this morning? Yeah, absolutely. If you're going to one of these events, check out This Must Be the Place, and you'll get information about where you can obtain Quixado and get some training for overdose prevention, but I would also encourage everybody to do just a five-minute website search with CDC, Fentanyl, DEA, Fentanyl, and you would get a lot of information about just how bad this problem is and just how deadly Fentanyl in our drug supply is. Yeah, it's a problem that continues to grow. You're absolutely right. Dr. David Dahimi, thank you for the time this morning. Check it in all the way from the opposite coast, all the way from the West Coast this morning with some really good information. Greatly appreciate it, and here's to a great summer of some great music and also safe for everybody involved, and we appreciate your contributions today. You're welcome. Thank you for having me on, Bert.