Why expanding access to Narcan in the US won’t solve the opioid crisis

For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a naloxone treatment – a drug called Narcan that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses – for use without a prescription. The decision is welcome news for a country in the midst of an ever-worsening opioid crisis. It will no doubt save lives, but it won’t turn the tide so long as treatment for opioid use disorder remains inaccessible.

For the past decade, the US has witnessed a …