Narcan saved me from an opioid overdose. President Trump should make this drug cheaper. As he launches his drive to reduce prescription drug costs, Donald Trump can use a rarely-invoked law to let other manufacturers compete with Narcan.

Perry Hopkins | Opinion contributor

If not for naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medicine, I wouldn’t be here today.

My story can be instructive to President Trump as he launches a drive to reduce drug prices and make sure everyone has access to the medicines they need.

My girlfriend and I are both past heroin users. We live in a one-bedroom apartment in Baltimore. One night eight months ago, we finished dinner, snorted some opioids and went into the kitchen. I was washing dishes and she was putting food away when I passed out, falling face-first into the sink.

Fortunately, we had naloxone, in an easy-to-administer nasal spray called Narcan. Our Narcan kit had a magnet on it and we kept it on the refrigerator. My girlfriend snatched it off the fridge and administered a full dose to me.

When I didn’t budge, she ran into the bedroom and got another Narcan kit. She administered that. I took one deep breath and went back to unconsciousness. I was back on my way to dying there on the floor. She remembered we had a third kit in the nightstand next to our bed, retrieved it and administered to me again. I then regained consciousness. Coming so close to losing my life scared me straight. I haven’t used drugs since.

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Naloxone is extremely effective. But unbeknownst to us, the heroin we were using was laced with fentanyl, a pain medication up to 100 times stronger than morphine and much stronger than heroin. It looks the same as heroin so it is impossible to detect.

It is paramount that naloxone be more available nationwide, especially as opioids sold on the street become more potent and deadly. A person can need two to three Narcan doses to be revived once. Right now, the supply of simple lifesaving kits does not meet the need, and that’s killing us.

In 2015, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen issued a standing order for naloxone — a blanket prescription that made it available to all city residents. In the last two years, everyday residents have saved the lives of more than 1,800 people.

The health department buys Narcan at $75 for two doses to distribute to community groups, which give it to people like my girlfriend to administer in case someone nearby overdoses. But the department can’t afford to buy enough for everyone who needs it, so must ration it. One community health worker has people flocking to his car to get Narcan. He may have six people asking for it, but only three doses to give out. He has to decide who is most likely to use it.

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Although naloxone is generic and went on the market in 1971, Narcan is under patent until March 2035. This means that only one company — Adapt Pharma — can make it, which gives that corporation monopoly power. Similarly, Evzio, the naloxone auto-injector manufactured by Kaleo Pharmaceuticals and whose price spiked from $690 to $4,500 in 2017, is protected by patents until as late as July 2034.

The Trump administration has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, and the U.S. Surgeon General has said more people should carry naloxone. Some experts have said that dispensing naloxone should be as easy as pulling a fire alarm.

They’re right. We need to fund the response to addiction. We need to challenge prejudice. And we need to make easy-to-use naloxone affordable.

The Trump administration can fix the last problem quickly, without spending a dime. Under a rarely used section of the law, Trump has the power to authorize other manufacturers to make competing devices to deliver naloxone, even those that rely on patented technology.

The government uses this power for defense products and considered using it during the post-Sept. 11 anthrax scare. Just talking about it prompted the manufacturer of Cipro to cut the price of that drug. The nonprofit group Public Citizen and the Baltimore City Health Department last week called on the administration to invoke this law to make naloxone more accessible.

I am over eight months clean. I value my work as a community organizer. I remain an active member of self-help groups citywide and plan to undergo training to be a recovery coach. The availability of naloxone saved my life and can save others too.

Something more needs to be done — now. Mr. President, help us help our communities.

Perry Hopkins is a Baltimore resident who works as a community organizer with Communities United.