Jersey City resident Gloria Manderville says she wishes she had naloxone on hand when her 21-year old cousin Justin died of an overdose less than a year ago.

“You can see people nodding out on corners, their bike might be laying down on the ground and they might be foaming at the mouth and struggling. And the only thing you can do at that point is call 911 and hope that they get there in time. I know in the case of my cousin, 911 didn’t get there in time,” Manderville said. “I am a retired school counselor, so as a counselor I think it’s my duty and obligation that if I see someone in the neighborhood who seems to be overdosing, to have this on my person so that I can administer it and save someone’s life.”

Manderville was the first person to pick-up a free pack of naloxone at a Jersey City Walgreens. As part of the state’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis, a variety of pharmacies are offering anyone 14 years and older free naloxone, no questions asked.

“Too many New Jerseyan have lost their lives to opioid overdose and we can help prevent that by making sure that naloxone, commonly called Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug, is in many hands as possible. So we’re giving it away for free at more than 300 pharmacies across the state. You don’t need to give your name, you don’t need to have insurance coverage, you don’t need to make an appointment, you can just come in and ask the pharmacist for free Narcan,” said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Carol Johnson.

Each naloxone pack comes with two doses. The packs are given on a first come, first serve basis.

“You are essentially just taking the packaging out and then you are administering it in each nostril, one spray in each nostril. It works pretty fast, so it should allow you to make sure you reverse the respiratory depression so they can start breathing normally again,” said Walgreens pharmacy manager Jay Darji.

It’s the state’s second free distribution to residents. With a 300-patient facility, Don Parker of Hackensack Meridian’s Carrier Clinic knows the road to recovery after a Narcan reversal is far from over, especially during the pandemic.

“We had over 300 patients in our hospital two weekends ago with a significant waiting list to get here. I would tell you our volume has been up significantly throughout the pandemic. It’s been a silent growth, but we’ve grown about 15% in opioid overdoses in the last nine months during this pandemic. It really is a consequence of the anxiety, the isolation, the whole variety of social factors that are impacting individuals,” Parker said.

Eddie Frierson of the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation says the nonprofit is now preparing patients for a second wave of COVID-19, in case resources and services become scarce.

“Trauma is built on trauma so if those other sources are not around, people with addictive personalities are going to find other avenues to deal with trauma, and most of the time it’s substance abuse. What we are trying to do is get as much naloxone out, as much fentanyl test strip out so the community can actually take care of themselves if that second wave comes,” Frierson said.

Any taking the free naloxone gets the state’s addiction treatment help line as a bonus.