Just last week, the Ohio City police released controversial photos of a couple in a car, overdosed on heroin, with a 4-year-old boy in the back seat. The photos were shocking, yes, but not uncommon. This is only one example showing it’s no secret that America has a rapidly growing drug problem, and the opioids are at the heart of the issue.

But, I mostly want to address the other drug involved: Narcan, the opioid overdose-reversing drug that saved the lives of the two adults in that car. Narcan is both good and bad. I say good because obviously this drug saves lives. I say bad because Narcan can also be a bailout of sorts.

Not to be insensitive, but I can’t help but think that Narcan is another drug that’s getting abused. Some drug users may use a little less caution knowing that Narcan exists as their safety net. So maybe Narcan gives the drug user an excuse to not get help for their addiction. Or maybe there is a point where we take the hint that the person doesn’t want to be saved.

No one will ever have a definitive answer as to what the right thing to do is, but I think that the miraculous qualities of Narcan can blind people to its downside. Should we allow drug users to simply overdose as many times as they please? Should there be a limit to the amount of Narcan doses an individual may receive? Three strikes, you’re out?

We have actually been discussing this topic for decades but we’ve called it euthanasia. Instead of asking how many more weeks or days until we should or shouldn’t “Pull the plug,” we now ask how many doses of Narcan are allowable.

I was discussing this topic with a friend recently, and she mentioned the phrase, “Playing God.” She’s right; a lot of people could see it that way. So it becomes a moral matter, a spiritual matter, a matter of law and order, and/or a public health crisis. Miracle drug or not, no amount of Narcan will be able to heal that little boy in the backseat.