Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jun 2012
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Kamloops Daily News
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/679
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?132 (Heroin Overdose)

SHOULD WE GIVE ADDICTS NARCAN?

Interior Health will likely not be surprised if it receives a 
somewhat frosty public reception to the idea of giving addicts kits 
they could use to counteract a heroin overdose.

If it goes ahead, the pilot project for the Interior would give drug 
users Narcan, which they or someone with them could inject if they 
were overdosing.

According to a report from the University of Victoria's Centre for 
Addictions Research, the B.C. Interior has the highest per-capita 
rates for people being hospitalized due to drug and alcohol overdoses.

As such, the new harm-reduction program would try to reduce the 
number of such patients needing hospital care, thus saving lives and 
health-care money.

But the experts will have to forgive the rest of us if we question 
how realistic it is to expect addicts to, for starters, always carry 
the Narcan kit around with them. Is it going to be a priority for 
them or will it simply sit with the dust bunnies under the bed - if 
they are lucky enough to have a bed and home to keep it in. If 
they're homeless, there's even more potential for the kit to be 
forgotten somewhere or lost.

There's also the issue of the drug's effectiveness. In this case, it 
might work too good; as users are brought so quickly down to a sober 
state that they may be reluctant to use it.

We wonder if the person who is overdosing is with someone else, will 
that individual be in a state to assist in a meaningful way?

According to websites that describe how to administer naloxone 
(Narcan is a trade name), one must snap off the neck of an ampoule of 
the drug, draw 1 cc into the syringe, inject it into a muscle and 
perform rescue breathing until the drug takes effect.

And even if such a helper is lucid enough, will he want to disrupt 
his own high to help someone else?

While a lot of unknowns remain for the public to understand how the 
program might work, if giving out a Narcan kit proves a successful 
way to save lives and keep overdosing addicts from jamming up 
emergency wards, it will be a worthwhile initiative.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom