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Naloxone

Take Home Naloxone in the UK

Naloxone (provided under the brand names Prenoxad and Nyxoid in the UK) is a medication used to reverse opioid overdose. Since 2015, this medication has been more widely available in the UK as a ‘take home’ emergency medication.

NALOXONE.ORG.UK

This website aims to be a hub for information, guidance, news and research on Take Home Naloxone (THN). The main focus is on THN in the UK, although we have included select pieces of information on the supply of naloxone internationally.

PHE Guidance

Updated 18 February 2019
Public Health England have released updated guidance on take home naloxone in the UK, entiled ‘Widening the Availability of Naloxone’. This can be found on the PHE website.
  • Drug services can supply naloxone without a prescription
  • Products that drug services can supply
  • Responsibility for deciding who can supply naloxone
  • People who can be supplied naloxone by a drug service
  • Using naloxone to save a person’s life without their permission
  • Clinical governance in drug treatment services
  • Guidance for hostels, homeless shelters and housing associations
  • Side effects associated with naloxone

Addressing co-occurring public health emergencies: The importance of naloxone distribution in the era of COVID-19

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Until recently, the overdose crisis has been at the forefront of public health efforts in the United States (US). However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid rise in cases across the country, attention has quickly shifted at the federal and state levels from overdose response to minimizing the spread of COVID-19. Rapid public health approaches have been implemented across jurisdictions, including widespread business closures, transitions to telemedicine, temporary closures of parks, and social distancing orders. While necessary to flatten the epidemiological curve of the pandemic, these public health approaches have largely failed to account for the unintended consequences such policies have on structurally vulnerable populations, including people who use drugs (PWUD).

This year the Scottish Drugs Forum  #StopTheDeaths campaign highlights the role we all have in recognising and intervening when a person overdoses.

Overdose is not a rare occurrence and the difference between an overdose and a fatal overdose depends upon the immediate actions of people present at the time. You could save a life by recognising an overdose.  

#StopTheDeaths images © SDF 2021

News/Updates

Pride and Prejudice

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As Overdose Awareness Day approached, the millionth kit of injectable naloxone was distributed. Drink Drug News magazine looks back at the story of this lifesaving intervention.

Nonprescription Naloxone Available For Retail Sales (USA)

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This nonprescription availability is an important milestone for states and territories, community organizations, harm reduction advocates, those working to prevent overdose, and people at risk for overdose. State policy has evolved since the initial FDA approval of naloxone in 1971 to reduce access barriers and allow distribution to laypersons for emergency response. More than 20 years ago, harm reduction organizations spearheaded efforts to distribute naloxone to laypersons, particularly people who use drugs and their friends and families. Significant research has demonstrated naloxone is safe and effective for layperson use even with brief training.

Make naloxone routinely available to police, paramedics and public, says Turning Point

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Turning Point is calling on the government to make naloxone routinely available to the police, paramedics and the general public, as only treatment and healthcare staff are currently able to distribute the drug.