PARENTS SHOULD CARRY NALOXONE, JUST IN CASE

This letter is in response to the Dec. 18 article by Jamie Sotonoff
entitled "Mother of suburban teen who died warns others." To the
Editor, thank you for the story on the rising toll from heroin
overdoses in the suburbs.

I applaud the courage of Chrystal Beinlich, Lea Minalga, Mary Jo
Capone, Jody Daitchman, and Michelle Hines, whose grief is inspiring
them to speak out. Dr. Michael Born raised concerns about the safety
of Narcan. As medical director of Chicago Recovery Alliance, I have
seen absolutely no safety problems after having distributed Narcan to
more than 15,000 people and received reports of more than 1,300
successful uses of Narcan in reversing overdose.

Other arguments against Narcan include "but won't they just use more
heroin?" Do we consider death by overdose to be preferable? Would we
dare bring such an argument before the parents of a dead child? The
most honest argument against naloxone that I've ever heard came from a
young man who said, "But doctor, what is the advantage of saving these
people?" "These people." I have no response to this argument.

Only heroes like Chrystal Beinlich, Lea Minalga, Mary Jo Capone, Jody
Daitchman, and Michelle Hines can tell the world that "these people"
are our people. They are our sons and daughters, our brothers and
sisters, our neighbors and friends.

The new Narcan law will allow anyone to carry naloxone and use it in a
suspected overdose. I urge parents to ask their doctor for a
prescription for Narcan and keep it available. All parents want their
children to be drug-free, but the first priority must be to keep the
children alive.

Sarz Maxwell

Medical Director

Chicago Recovery Alliance