WHAT IS NALOXONE?
Naloxone is an emergency drug that can help reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. It’s also known as Prenoxade. Every year over 1,000 people die in the UK as a result of a heroin overdose – but if more people had access to Naloxone and knew how to use it, this number could be decreased.
How to access Naloxone
We supply opiate users, family and friends with Naloxone, the training to use it, and basic life support techniques to keep somebody alive until an ambulance can arrive and take over. We provide this service for free. If you would like Naloxone to keep at home or carry on your person, please speak with a member of Harbour staff.
It is legal to have Naloxone in your possession and to use it once you have been trained. The police understand what Naloxone is used for and will not take it from you or arrest you for having it.
Always call 999 if someone is overdosing
If someone is overdosing, the first thing to do is call 999. Naloxone is an emergency drug that temporarily reverses the effects of a heroin overdose, until an ambulance can come and take over.
Sometimes, people are frightened to call an ambulance if there had been an overdose because they though the police would turn up as well. This is rarely the case anymore, so it’s vitally important that the first thing you do is to call an ambulance whether you have a Naloxone kit or not.
About our Naloxone training
We provide the training in layman’s terms, so it’s not technical, you don’t need to be an experienced first aider or having ever done anything like it before, the only requirement is the willingness to try and save a life.
Nobody wants to see another human overdose – we know how scary this is – and you can feel helpless while you are waiting for an ambulance to arrive but there are things you can do to help. In our training we cover signs and symptoms of overdose if you’re not sure what to look out for. Training takes just 10–15 minutes, and the information you gain may be enough to help you save somebody’s life. We have given out well over 200 kits over the last couple of years and know that they have been used and lives have been saved.
More information on Naloxone can be found here. http://www.prenoxadinjection.com/
How does Naloxone work?
Opiates such as heroin and methadone slow your central nervous system down. An opiate overdose can slow your breathing and heart rate down to the point where you stop breathing and your heart stops beating altogether.
Naloxone works by forcing opiate molecules out of the receptor in the brain, which can reverse some of the effects of an overdose.
It is short acting, which means you might have to give a few doses before it starts to work or it might start to work and then wear off (so you might have to give some more). There are 5 doses of Naloxone in the kits we provide, which is enough doses to last until an ambulance can arrive and take over.