OGDEN — Sometimes, 10 minutes can matter. Especially during a drug overdose.

That’s one reason the executive director of the Utah Health Department signed an order Thursday allowing pharmacists to dispense a drug known to reverse overdoses.

The order says the drug naloxone may be given to a person without a prescription — for that person to use or to help someone else.

“If you walk in on a loved one who is unconscious, you can administer naloxone and call 911,” said Dr. Edward Redd, a Logan physician and Republican representative for Utah’s House District 4. “Sometimes it takes 10 minutes for paramedics to get to where you are. That’s 10 minutes too long.”

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Six Utahns die every week from opioid overdoses, according to the statement from the Utah Department of Health.

“Naloxone is a safe and legal drug that can reverse heroin and prescription opioid overdoses by blocking the effects of opiates on the brain and restoring breathing in minutes,” a news release from the department of health says. “There is no potential for abuse and side effects are rare.”

Local health care professionals said they’ve seen lives saved by naloxone, especially when time is not wasted having to prove a need for the drug.

RELATED: Health department: Opioid abuse is a Utah epidemic

Lisa Nichols, community benefit behavioral health director at McKay-Dee Hospital, said Intermountain Healthcare has allowed people to have the drug without prescription since May.

Nichols said naloxone was given to 250 in IHC hospitals during that time. She believes lives have been saved as a result.

Dr. Noel Schenk, psychiatrist and medical director at Davis Behavioral Health, said she’s seen lives saved, too.

“It gives time for the ambulance to come and get them,” she said. “Because of that, it saves lives.”

Schenck, who works with Redd at Davis Behavioral Health, explained that opioid drugs restrict a person’s breathing, which may be fatal if the person is unconscious.

RELATED: Weber, Morgan officers get life-saving drug overdose kits through state grant

“Opioid overdose can be reversed and death prevented by timely administration of naloxone,” said Dr. Joseph Miner, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, in the state’s news release. “As authorized by state law, this standing order is intended to increase access to naloxone for those who might be at risk of an overdose or who might be in a position to assist somebody at risk of an overdose.”

Naloxone may be administered via nasal spray (commonly known as Narcan) or through intramuscular injection, according to the news release.

In 2015, 268 Utahns died from a prescription opioid overdose, which includes drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, morphine, and fentanyl. The news release says of those, 127 died from illicit opioids such as heroin and 10 deaths involved both prescription and illicit opioids.

The release says an estimated 80 percent of heroin users start with prescription drugs.

Utah ranks fourth in the nation for drug overdose deaths, according to the state health department.

During the 2016 General Legislative Session, Rep. Steve Eliason sponsored House Bill 240: Opiate Overdose Response Act. Its passage authorized the Utah Department of Commerce and Utah Department of Health to implement a standing prescription drug order to dispense naloxone, the release said.

Additional laws passed in recent years expanded access to naloxone and provided protections for bystanders to report an overdose without fear of criminal prosecution for illegal possession of a controlled substance or illegal drug.

“Providing naloxone more quickly to the Utah public may be the difference between life and death for those struggling with opioid use disorders,” said Francine A. Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, in a news release. 

To learn more about naloxone and the standing order, visit naloxone.utah.gov. For information on opioids, visit the state health department’s website opidemic.org.

You may reach reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228. Follow her on Twitter at @JaNaeFrancisSE or like her on Facebook.