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NALOXONE SERVICES WILL be extended this year after a successful rollout in 2023, the Drugs Minister has confirmed.
Naloxone is a prescription-only medication that is used as an antidote to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine, methadone and synthetic opioids like nitazene if someone overdoses.
The availability of naloxone was vital in saving lives during recent overdose clusters in Dublin and Cork.
Some 6,488 units of naloxone were supplied by the HSE to services in 2023 and almost 2,000 people who work in addiction and related services were last year trained in how to properly administer it.
Naloxone can be administered in two ways – via an injection or nasal spray.
Healthcare workers, frontline gardaí, people who work in homelessness services and family members of people with addiction issues are among those who have been trained to date.
Under a recent pilot scheme at St James’s Hospital in Dublin patients who were at risk of overdosing were given naloxone kits to bring home.
As part of the continued implementation of harm reduction measures under the National Drugs Strategy, Minister Hildegarde Naughton said she is committed to supporting further development of naloxone services in 2024.
“We saw the lifesaving effects of naloxone during the recent overdose cases in Dublin and Cork,” Naughton said.
In many cases it was administered before emergency services arrived on the scene, and this reinforces the need to make it more readily available.
“My department is working closely with the HSE National Naloxone Oversight Quality Assurance Group to increase awareness and accessibility of naloxone. It’s important that it is made more accessible to support workers, peers and family members.”
Prison Service and other training
The Irish Prison Service in August announced that it would provide intranasal naloxone to prisoners on release who have a history of opioid use in a bid to prevent fatalities in the event of an overdose.
Educational videos were created for broadcast on the in-cell Prison TV channel to increase prisoner awareness of how to respond effectively in overdose situations.
Naughton said that by the end of this month, the HSE National Social Inclusion Office will launch a blended accredited Opioid Overdose Awareness and Naloxone Administration Training course online.
Organisations which complete the two-module training can notify the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) of their intention to procure naloxone from a pharmacy or other supplier.
“Naloxone training is part of an integrated approach to reducing drug harm under the National Drugs Strategy, and I am committed to supporting practical initiatives that help to save and improve the lives of those affected by drug use,” the minister said.
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Bad batch of illegal narcotics is being made out like a bad batch of pasteurised milk or baby food. These are drugs that have been mixed with anything and everything .
Step up the war against drugs, don’t appease them.
@Edward Vanderlee:
How is the war going ?
50+ years now.
@Edward Vanderlee: The war on drugs has been a complete and abject failure and the world has thankfully started to move on to different approaches. It’s not about rewarding or appeasing users and sellers, it’s about reducing harms to society as a whole. You may not particularly like or approve of the introduction of supervised injection centres, but I for one applaud them as a lesser evil than shooting up in alleyways and laneways in broad daylight. Get with the times, boomer.
@Kevin Collins: it’s also about Not punishing people who end up mostly through no fault of there own in addiction and or with mental health problems. We wouldn’t jail someone who had cancer but the jails are full of addicts. #childhoodtrauma
@T Paul Kelly: its not going well but it’s 100% the right thing to do.
I live a short walk from Thomas Street in Dublin. The amount of addicts in that area is terrible, publicly injecting.
No society should normalise that.
Support the addicts and jail the dealers.
@Edward Vanderlee: It’s not going well but it’s the right thing to do ? Think about that statement. The answer is counterintuitive but unfortunately we all have to wait for the less agile thinkers like yourself, to catch up with the rest of us. Then we can finally start changing policy, making a difference and saving lives.
@Declan Doherty: no need to resort to insults now Declan. I’m perfectly agile mentally.
I saw three people injecting eachother in the entrance of a hotel the other day on my way to work.
Those poor people. The poor gardai trying to police it too where the courts are a revolving door.
Nothing ageist about it… that’s not acceptable in any society.
I’m in the hostels and there was three deaths in my hostel alone while that batch was going around and I know of good few who died. Why has there been no reporting on that?
Would the author of this piece care to find out how many died during that bad batch?
Or are we too woke to print that kind of thing?
@Denis Rathsallagh Brady: how is that ‘woke’ in any way? Didn’t they have an article a week or two ago detailing a number of deaths to that point if i recall, do you not believe them or something?
@Setanta O’Toole: I obviously didnt read that article but it would be helpful if the figures were put into this article too.
Ive even given them the number for Merchants Quay Ireland.
You sure it was deaths due to this bad batch and not lives saved by Naloxone?
I mean, one knows the risks. Choices
Have to say well done to the department of health who see the value of harm reduction ( eg festival pill testing) – pity the Department of Justice seem to be trapped in the dark ages.
Here ill help you out.
Heres Merchants Quay phone number wont take you a minute to ring them.
(01) 524 0160
The police forces knows who are the dealers, yet no one is getting locked up
@Dominic Leleu: locking up those who do drive is counterproductive. We have overflowing prisons at the present time and you want to add more??? rehabilitation, awareness campaigns though workforces, schools, PLC colleges, 3rd level etc is the way to go.
@Dominic Leleu: forget the typo lol meant drugs not drive lol
@alan scott: those are mere bandages… As long as we have a drugs policy from the 1980s the only outcomes will be rich mob bosses and endless, needless death and crime.
Need to give it to lecturers and staff at all the third level colleges.
Hilarious that anyone thinks our rightwing government cares about saving lives.
80th worst healthcare system in the world.
75k homeless
Drugs policy from the 1980s, which is enriching gangs and killing the sick.
Suicide epidemic
Etc.
We – as a people – are far more likely to throw babies in a septic tank than help the poor and sick.
@Chris O’Brien: Multiple-choice question.
Are you:
a. deranged?
b. delirious?
c. profoundly delusional?
d. lying?
have your say