Heroin-overdose antidote now distributed free to addicts, others across the nation

wfgodot

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Drug-overdose antidote is put in addicts' hands (AP)
WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (AP) -- Steve Wohlen lay on his front lawn, blue, unconscious and barely breathing, overdosing on heroin.

His mother ran outside, frantically assembling a pen-like canister. Her heart pounding, she dropped to her knees and used the device to deliver two squirts up her son's nostrils.

Within minutes, his eyes opened, color returned to his face, and he sat up - brought back from a potentially lethal overdose by a drug commonly known by its old brand name, Narcan.
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So what does this drug do, why are we just hearing about it, and what are the pros and cons?
The drug, widely sold under its generic name, naloxone, counteracts the effects of heroin, OxyContin and other powerful painkillers and has been routinely used by ambulance crews and emergency rooms in the U.S. for decades. But in the past few years, public health officials across the nation have been distributing it free to addicts and their loved ones, as well as to some police and firefighters.

Such giveaways may have saved more than 10,000 lives since the first program was started in 1996 in Chicago, according to a survey by the Harm Reduction Coalition, a national group that works to reduce the consequences of drug use.

Opponents say that making the antidote so easily available is an accommodation to drug use that could make addicts less likely to seek treatment. The objections are not unlike those raised decades ago when addicts were first issued clean needles to curb the spread of AIDS.
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much more at AP link above
 
I think this is a good thing, much like the clean needles campaign.
 
Just this week I was watching the show "The Doctors" and they mentioned heroin addiction. It seems they have developed a vaccine for heroin, one that will block the persons brain from recieving the affects of the drug. It isn't on the market yet, but is coming.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/heroin-vaccine-human-trial_n_1299329.html
I'm wondering why this might work on heroin alone, and not on other opiate-based drugs such as painkillers, which are at times genuinely necessary for addicts and non-addicts alike. List me as "doubtful" on this one till testing is further done.
 
hmmm ... gonna have to ponder this one
 
I think it is a wonderful idea!
If they are going to use then they are going to use anyway.
Just because they have a drug problem does not mean we should withhold life saving medication.
Many a drug user has straightened up and gotten their life together to go on to become a very valuable part of society.

And yes, those addicts families and friends want them saved to live another day until they can get their chit together and be involved with their children, parents, siblings, grand parents and friends.

I can only pray that anybody so callous, that would withhold life saving medication, be spared the anguish of having drug addiction touch them or their families lives.


IMO
 
I believe that this is a good thing

I used to be the nursing sister on a unit which provided a rapid opiate detox using Naltrexone. We used to keep the recovering addicts on a maintenance dose, supervised by a responsible adult.
As well as reversing the effects of an overdose it blocks the euphoria that opiates give you. This is ALL opiates not just heroin.

Just as a FYI as I am not sure that I agree with this type of treatment.
IMO the addict has their best chance of recovery by using the NA programme.

In 2010 I was given a massive OD of morphine in the recovery room after surgery. Naltrexone saved my life.
 
Ever since I saw this thread, I've been imagining the reaction from my parents if I showed them my heroin-overdose-antidote kit and told them they needed to learn how to use it in case I had an emergency.

I don't think I'd live long enough to use the kit.
 
oi
Ever since I saw this thread, I've been imagining the reaction from my parents if I showed them my heroin-overdose-antidote kit and told them they needed to learn how to use it in case I had an emergency.

I don't think I'd live long enough to use the kit.

Or you'd give them heart attacks! Narcan has saved me more then once. Not heroin...never even seen that stuff.
I'm glad they have it now. Just because they have an addiction doesn't mean they should die. :(
 

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