Heroin Overdose Antidote

Recently, the heroin epidemic has hit a new high. 3.8 million Americans have tried heroin in their lifetime and nearly 338,000 people have used it in the past month.  Heroin overdoses have increased by more the fifty percent since 2010 and individual states and small suburbs have reported a substantial increase in heroin over doses. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, stated that since the introduction of Naloxone, a drug to reverse a drug opioid, has saved many lives. Since the introduction of Naloxone to local, city, and state agencies, the drug has been administered more than 100 times resulting in many saved lives. The State Attorney General suggests that money seized from drug dealers be used as a resource to save lives. The money can be used as a beneficial resource to law enforcement organizations as well as emergency medical services (EMS). The Community Overdose Prevention program has provided grants to law enforcement agencies since April of 2014. Since the introduction of the heroin overdose antidote, many large law enforcement agencies like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York City Police Department have announced they would equip their officers and properly train then in the use of Naloxone.

The age of heroin users has dropped from an average of 25.3 years of age to 20.1 years of age, which puts colleges in a position that they are not accustomed to. In August, the State University of New York at Purchase President announced that twelve SUNY College campuses would receive the Naloxone kits through the Community Overdose Prevention program. With the money from drug seizures being used for the purchase of the Naloxone kits, it appears that New York State has figured out a way to protect and help many different communities without making it a major cost. 110 lives have been saved from the use of the heroin overdose antidote, indicating the future potential for the antidote among the public service works.

Information retrieved from:   http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2015/02/11/schneiderman-heroin-overdose-antidote-used-100-times/

Picture retrieved from:  http://harmreduction.org/issues/overdose-prevention/tools-best-practices/od-kit-materials/