To Stop an Overdose: Heroin, Narcan and the New Public Policies That Are Saving Lives

Some sobering statistics concerning opiate-related overdoses but a glimmer of hope in battling the scourge that is drug use? I'm not convinced.

I have watched many young lives in the region where I live destroyed by opiates and its derivatives.

I have watched unqualified medical personnel who believe that all it takes is a "happy pill" to fix the problem all the while ignoring the underlying causes of drug use.

Are we yet again substituting one toxic substance for another thinking it will fix the problem?

While I am all for a means to combat overdoses, this "new" protocol bares a resemblance to insanity by continuing to perpetuate drug use. The superman mythos of "it won't happen to me," is now reinforced by "and if it does, they can fix it."

It continues the same mind set that initiated and sustains why an individual took the drugs in the first place. There is no individuality in method of treatment, it is a one size fits all panacea.

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I'm lying on the floor in my friend's kitchen. A dozen people are gathered around me. Maria grinds her knuckles across my sternum, but the sensation on the sensitive pressure point does not cause me to react. She rolls me on my side, turns my face to the side and brings one of my knees up toward my chest. Putting me in this "recovery position" will prevent me from choking if I vomit.

Maria pulls out a thick-gauged intramuscular syringe and a vial of naloxone hydrochloride, a drug known commonly by the brand name Narcan. She shows the people gathered around me how to draw up 1 cubic centimeter of naloxone into the syringe. "You want to inject it into fleshy areas, the upper arm muscle, thigh or butt," she says. "If there is not response in a few minutes, try administering one more cc of naloxone. Paramedics will give up to 3 cc's."

Naloxone is a nonaddictive prescription drug that reverses the effects of opiates. A person who takes a fatal dose of heroin or other opiate-based drug and stops breathing can often quickly be brought back if a friend, family member or medical professional has naloxone on hand and knows how to use it.

To Stop an Overdose: Heroin, Narcan and the New Public Policies That Are Saving Lives