NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Narcan nasal spray to be sold over the counter on Wednesday. The medication rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose and saves lives.

Nalaxone was first approved by the FDA as a prescription in 2015.

Now eight years later, it will be available in local drug and grocery stores and online. The product will have new packaging.

The elm city saw a spike in deadly overdoses last month. It claimed 12 lives in less than two weeks.

Narcan is used every day in New Haven to save lives, according to Maritza Bond, the city’s director of public health.

“We are dealing with an overdose crisis… and we’re concerned about that,” Bond said.

It’s a troubling trend Bond hopes will decline with more accessibility to the medication but she says it all depends on the cost.

The FDA is encouraging the manufacturer, Indivior, to make the product available as soon as possible at an affordable price.

The product is expected to hit shelves in the next few months, the exact cost is unknown.

A quick google search of online medical shops shows the spray costs $90 to $185 for a pack of two.

A community health clinic told News 8 that price isn’t going to work for everyone.

“Everybody has different socio-economic statuses and for some they may not have the means to afford it if it were around 20 dollars I know the current price is more expensive,” said Pamela Mautte, director of BH Care Alliance.

But once in hand, BH Care Alliance said Narcan nasal spray is safe and easy to administer.

The first step is recognizing an overdose, a person will often have blue lips or fingernails, slow breathing, seizures and will not respond or wake up.

The spray is safe even if someone is not overdosing and to administer, according to Mautte.

A step-by-step tutorial on how to administer Narcan by News 8 reporter Brittany Schaefer is shown below.

New 8 did reach out to both Walgreens and CVS pharmacies to see when the product will be in stores and how much it will cost but has not heard back yet.

We will bring you that information as soon as we learn it.