Minister hails heroin reversal drug as nearly 6,500 doses given last year to combat overdoses

Hildegarde Naughton, Minister for the National Drugs Strategy announced that naloxone services will be expanded throughout the new year.

Nearly 6,500 units of opioid-reversal drug Naloxone were given to drug services last year to help those who overdosed on dangerous drugs.

The figures were confirmed by Hildegarde Naughton, Minister for the National Drugs Strategy as she announced that naloxone services will be expanded throughout the new year.

Naloxone is a prescription-only medication that is used as a counteracting medicine that can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs like heroin, morphine, methadone and synthetic opioids if someone overdoses.

In August, the HSE and St James’s Hospital introduced a pilot initiative called ‘Nalox-Home’ which provided free naloxone kits to patients who attend the hospital’s emergency department and have experienced or are at risk of an opioid overdose.

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As Minister Naughton announced that there will be additional training available regarding the drug, as well as increased accessibility, she confirmed that nearly 6,500 units of naloxone were distributed last year.

“I am greatly encouraged by the participation to date in 2023, of almost 2,000 people in Overdose Awareness and Naloxone Administration training facilitated by the HSE and partner services,” she said.

“This important work will save lives. We saw the lifesaving effects of naloxone during the recent overdose cases in Dublin and Cork.

“In many cases it was administered before emergency services arrived on the scene, and this reinforces the need to make it more readily available.

“6,488 units of naloxone have been supplied by the HSE to services to date in 2023.

“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.”

An interactive piece of art was also launched last year which allowed people to scan a QR code so that they could watch videos demonstrating how people can recognise and respond to an opioid overdose, including the administration of naloxone.

There are also plans to launch a pilot plan that will see frontline Gardaí trained to carry and administer naloxone in 2024.

An online course will also be launched at the end of this month to teach people how to administer the treatment.

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.

The news comes just months after several heroin “overdose clusters” in Dublin and Cork.

The HSE confirmed in November that analysis conducted by Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) that a trace amount of potent synthetic opioid Nitazene had been identified in a brown powder associated with a Dublin overdose.

There were no deaths reported linked to the overdoses.

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