By Corey Fischer

Pharmacies Added To Naloxone Program

Dec 20, 2017 | 10:43 AM

The BC government is making it easier for people to get take home naloxone kits to prevent overdose deaths.

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy says pharmacies in BC can now be part of the program.

“That means you can get a kit at no charge if you use opioids, or if you are likely to witness an overdose. Already 1,900 kits have been distributed to over 220 pharmacies around the province,” says Darcy.

Darcy says no identifying information will be recorded about the person getting them.

“People who might feel apprehensive to ask for a kit can rest assured that no identifying information is recorded, and that getting a take home kit is discreet and it’s easy.”

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BC has had about 12-hundred fatal drug overdoses this year, much of that due to the opioid pain medication fentanyl.

Dr. Jane Buxton from the BC Centre for Disease Control, says naloxone is a drug that reverses an opioid overdose.

“It binds the receptors in the brain which restores a person’s breathing. And while the drug can prevent brain damage and death, the program does much more. It empowers people who use drugs. It empowers their friends and their families,” says Buxton.

Until now, the kits have been available at harm-reduction sites, local health units, hospital emergency departments, corrections facilities and First Nations sites.

More than 57,000 take-home naloxone kits have been given out since the Take Home Naloxone Program’s inception in 2012, including 22,540 kits in 2016 and 29,292 so far in 2017.

There are now about 830 take-home naloxone distribution sites in B.C., with 298 new sites added in 2016, and 430 so far in 2017, including community pharmacies.

Take-home naloxone kits have been reported used to reverse over 11,000 overdoses.

by Corey Fischer