In Baltimore City, where Dr. Leana Wen serves as Health Commissioner, more people died from overdose last year than died from homicide. Dr. Wen has declared opioid abuse a public health emergency, and has led the charge to expand the use of naloxone, also called Narcan, that completely reverses the effect of an overdose. Dr. Wen speaks about this medication’s potential to combat America’s overdose epidemic. Her message is simple: nobody should die from an entirely treatable ailment; we should all be able to save a life.

This documentary-stye training film, made in association with Chicago Recovery Alliance, provides instruction on how to recognise opioid overdose and respond effectively using a combination of rescue breathing and injectable naloxone, a pure opiate antagonist. An actual overdose, caught on film in November 2008, provides the narrative framework in which the opiate overdose rescue process is illuminated.