Newsom makes generic $24 Narcan available after pro-drug policies push ‘safe’ use

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made California the first state to offer a generic version of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan for public purchase through a state-run storefront, while the state’s health department continues to promote a “Harm Reduction” model for the so-called “safe” use of drugs.

“Life-saving medications shouldn’t come with a life-altering price tag,” Newsom said in a statement Monday. 

“CalRx is about making essential drugs like naloxone affordable and accessible for all — not the privileged few. California is using our market power as the 5th largest economy in the world to disrupt a billion-dollar industry to save lives…and we’re just getting started.”

The program comes nearly a year after California’s CalRx brand began selling over-the-counter naloxone nasal spray to businesses and government groups.

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California becomes first state to sell the drug reversal drug Narcan directly to residents for $24. (Getty Images)

But the state’s public health department sanctions the “safe” use of drugs through its promotion of the California Harm Reduction Initiative (CHRI), which works to reduce overdoses by handing out syringes and fentanyl test strips, among other initiatives. 

“The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Office of AIDS (OA) has determined that safer injection, safer smoking and sniffing materials, provided in a harm reduction context alongside health education and other care, may reduce the spread of communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C, and reduce the risk of injury and fatal drug overdose,” a state fact sheet about syringe services programs (SSPs) in 2022 reads. 

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Packs of Narcan sit in a cardboard box. (FOX News)

In 2017, California became the first state to pass legislation permitting supervised consumption services (SCS), allowing local jurisdictions to establish pilot programs for drug users to consume substances under supervision. By 2022, SB 57 was passed, authorizing overdose prevention programs in select cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles. This legislation further integrated harm reduction into the state’s health policies. 

The progressive program has drawn criticism from conservative leaders over the last several years.

“This is a nuanced issue of public safety on which Newsom’s approach is here… so often, ironic,” Will Swaim, president of the think tank California Policy Center told Fox News Digital. “This is like Newsom suing Trump over tariffs — the guy who has done so much to destroy business wants to pretend now he’s pro-business?”

Swaim added that “like Narcan accessibility, that’s not a good fit for him.”

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In 2017, California became the first state to pass legislation permitting supervised consumption services. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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