It started in 2016 when the VCU professor created the “Free Hot Coffee” bike, which people in Rams in Recovery — a program for students recovering from addiction — rode around campus. Then it evolved in 2019, when someone whose family was impacted by addiction and recovery donated the money needed to buy what’s now known as the bright blue “Free Naloxone” bike.
A gradual rollout of Naloxone will now take place across South Yorkshire following partnership work involving all four of the county’s local authorities. All police officers and operational staff must complete mandatory training before they will be allowed to carry it.
The list of participants joining the national naloxone push includes major corporations like Amazon, the National Hockey League, and United Airlines as well as some universities. Labor and contractor organizations have also signed on, along with restaurant and hospitality trade groups.
A nasal spray used to treat suspected drug overdoses is being added to hundreds of Devon and Cornwall Police vehicles. The force said naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of opioid-based drugs, will be rolled out to 400 police vehicles to help save lives.
As recreational drugs are increasingly laced with potentially lethal opioids, experts are highly concerned about overdoses. Cocaine and ecstasy users represent a “whole new cohort” who should carry naloxone, the life-saving medication to treat opioid overdoses, officials say.
Demand for a life-saving opioid overdose drug has doubled in one year as a “whole new cohort” of stimulant and hallucinogenic users, fearful of taking lethally laced narcotics, have rushed to get the medication. Prior to a recent spike in overdose deaths, regular users of illicit opioids were the predominant users of naloxone, which can rapidly reverse an overdose.