GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Narcan is what local experts are calling a game changer for people battling addiction.

Narcan will soon be as easy to buy as aspirin.

On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter nasal spray, which means you won’t need a prescription to get it. It should be available by late summer at pharmacies, grocery stores and gas stations.

Right now, pharmacists don’t know how much it will cost. It’s up to the manufacturer. They do not expect this to be covered by insurance but hope it will be affordable so those who need it most can easily get it.

The news hit close to home for one local pharmacy manager.

“This is a very important medication to me because…she might still be here,” said Caroline Drake, the manager at Gate City Pharmacy.

Drake lost her daughter Kaitlyn to an overdose in 2020.

“I think that so many people were raised thinking that this comes from broken homes and bad upbringings, and that is absolutely not the case anymore,” Drake said.

The mom wishes she had over-the-counter Narcan as an option at the pharmacy where she works to save her daughter.

The FDA announced people will be able to buy naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray without a prescription. It’s a first of its kind to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

“I am very passionate about this being available,” Drake said. “Somebody else’s family has a second chance with their child, their brother, their sister.”

The life-saving treatment is easy to administer.

“There’s one dose in each sprayer,” Drake said. “There’s two in each box, so it is just one spray in the nostril. Either one.”

Local advocates like Kelly Scaggs hope making Narcan more accessible will help reduce the stigma surrounding it. Scaggs is the clinical director of Fellowship Hall in Greensboro, an addiction treatment center.

“It’s a second chance for them to hopefully find a path of recovery for themselves, but that can’t happen if they’re not alive to do that,” Scaggs said.

These advocates hope it will become the norm for everyone to put Narcan in their first aid kits. They said you never know who you’ll come across who might need it.

If you think someone is overdosing, you can give them Narcan, and it won’t hurt them, even if it turns out they weren’t having an overdose.