Canada urged to expand use of Naloxone to counter opiate overdoses

News

Canada urged to expand use of Naloxone to counter opiate overdoses

20 June 2014

Several Canadian cities are looking to expand the use of a medication that has been shown to save lives by countering the effects of a life-threatening prescription drug overdose.

Naloxone, an opiate antidote which is injected into the arm, essentially reverses the potentially fatal effect of an opiate overdose in minutes.

The call for expanded use of Naloxone comes following a new report that shows deaths from prescription opiates such as oxycodone and morphine are growing in Canada. According to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition report, the use of prescription pain-killers is the cause of half of all drug overdose deaths in the country – more than heroin and cocaine combined.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.