Handling Out Kits to Save Opiate Users From Dying of an Overdose
Este artigo canadense fala sobre os kits de redução de danos compostos por agulhas, seringas, lenços e a droga Naloxona, responsável por reverter a overdose em usuários de drogas tais como a heroína, fentanil, morfina e oxicodona. Tais kits podem inclusive serem levados para casa para que o usuário utilize em momentos em que realmente necessite.
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Author: Alan S. Hale
OVERDOSE KITS
Handling Out Kits to Save Opiate Users From Dying of an Overdose
Overdosing is one of the many dangers people addicted to hard drugs have to face every time they have to feed their habit. Almost every abuser of opiate-based drugs overdoses at some point, sometimes with fatal consequences; 300 to 400 people die every year in Ontario of a drug overdoes. To help prevent more deaths, Kenora's needle exchange programs will be giving out new take-home kits that will allow people to save the life of their overdosing friend or family member.
"Our harm reduction program, which we've had for awhile, looks at addressing and reducing drug-related harms," said Gillian Lunny, the Sexual Health and Harm Reduction Programs manager for the Northwestern Health Unit, which runs the needle exchanges. "And one of the ways we've been doing that for over ten years is to reduce the spread of blood-born infections through the sharing of needles and other drug preparation equipment. Another drug-related harm that's becoming more and more highlighted in our province is overdose. That's the harm we are focusing on with this new program."
The kits contain two clean needles, some disinfective wipes and two doses of a drug called Naloxone. If injected quickly enough, the drug can actually reverse the effects of an overdose on opium-derived drugs such as heroine, morphine, oxycodone or fentanyl. It does this by blocking the opiods in the drugs from receptors in the brain, and so ending the high.
"Naloxone has been around for years. I used to work in a hospital and it is administered regularly when people come in who have overdosed. Distributing the drug to people who use opiates isn't a new idea either. That's been happening in countries in Europe and in various states in the U.S. since the 1990s. But it is a new program for us," said Lunny.
Lunny said over the past few years, opiates are becoming more common among the drug-using population in Northwestern Ontario, and as a result overdoses have also been on the rise.
Knowing how many addicts live in Kenora or the region is difficult to know with any certainty, but the health unit does keep track of the number of encounters they have with users: in 2012, there were 6,000 encounters with male users and 5,000 with female users region-wide.
The needle exchange programs in Kenora and across Northwestern Ontario have become well-used by the regions intravenous drug users; giving out over 200,000 clean needles just in 2012. The exchanges also have nurses who are trained on the use of Naloxone who can teach users before giving them the kits to take home.
"For people who are using opiods and overdose, Naloxone is a very simple, easy, life-saving measure that can be put into place to save people's lives."
