TAMPA, Fla. —  This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Narcan without a prescription. Narcan is the leading brand of the drug naloxone, which is considered a key tool in the fight against the overdose epidemic gripping the country.

Jason Gwalthney calls the medication another chance at life and said he hopes greater access to it will help reverse the stigma associated with its use.

“You’re not supporting the problem, you’re supporting the solution by having this," he said. "It’s safe."

The Philadelphia native knows firsthand the medication’s effectiveness after his own struggles with addiction. Gwalthney said he tried alcohol as a child and was smoking marijuana at the age of 9. By high school, he says he had moved on to hard drugs.

 “I’ve overdosed over 35 times, flatlined 7 times, bled to death once, hung myself multiple times,” Gwalthney said. “Someone cared enough to give me a shot of Narcan and it just saved my life and gave me the opportunity to live a life beyond my wildest dreams.”

Gwalthney has now been sober and clean for nearly five years and is a board member for the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, an organization that helps people over come addiction by connecting them to resources in their community. He also is a sponsor and public speaker who encourages others to seek out recovery.

“You know, I walked these very streets homeless — eating out of dumpsters, sleeping on park benches,” Gwalthney said. “And today I get to be a pillar in my community.”

Narcan is expected to be available over the counter by late summer.

In the meantime, the Recovery Epicenter Foundation and its partners, including the Pinellas County Opioid Task Force, are distributing Narcan to businesses on both Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach every Tuesday and Thursday now through the end of April.  The effort is funded through a grant from the Florida Department of Children and Families.