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Host intro: Last week, we brought you a story about the San Joaquin Valley’s opioid epidemic, which manifests in inordinately high rates of painkiller prescriptions and hundreds of overdose deaths every year. This week, we explore three strategies that health officials and advocates are using to take aim at the problem. FM89’s Kerry Klein begins at a safe space for drug users. For over 20 years, meth and heroin users from around Fresno County have relied on the Fresno needle exchange for free medical care and all the clean syringes they need. Now, users can also get something else here: a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose. Three months ago, volunteers began handing out Narcan prescriptions as users walk up to the exchange. Like an Epi-Pen to an allergic reaction, Narcan can stop an opioid overdose in its tracks. Doug, a heroin user, has seen the antidote in action. “I had a friend, he had overdosed. He was dead, heart stopped, turned blue,” he says—then a neighbor ran in
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