Doyle: Battling opiate overdoses [CMAJ

Battling opiate overdoses

CMAJ 2000;163(6):697 See: eLetters

I thoroughly enjoyed your recent articles on substance abuse in the June 13 issue of CMAJ, especially Kyle Stevens' essay [Commentary].¹ I cannot help but think that if the narcotic antagonist naloxone was made readily available to heroin addicts and others as a harm reduction measure (perhaps as an expansion of a needle exchange program) there would be fewer deaths from opiate overdose. After all, most addicts would have little trouble subcutaneously or intravenously injecting naloxone into an unresponsive friend while awaiting a 911 response,² and the drug would certainly not be used for recreational purposes. Indeed, this idea is being seriously explored in the addiction literature.^3,4

D. John Doyle
Department of Anesthesia
Toronto General Hospital
Toronto, Ont.

References

    1.    Stevens KD. Stemming needless deaths: "medicalizing" the problem of injection drug use [commentary]. CMAJ 2000;162(12):1688-9.

    2.    Wanger K, Brough L, Macmillan I, Goulding J, MacPhail I, Christenson JM. Intravenous vs subcutaneous naloxone for out-of-hospital management of presumed opioid overdose. Acad Emerg Med 1998;5:293-9. [MEDLINE]

    3.    Darke S, Hall W. The distribution of naloxone to heroin users. Addiction 1997;92:1195-9. [MEDLINE]

    4.    Strang J, Powis B, Best D, Vingoe L, Griffiths P, Taylor C, et al. Preventing opiate overdose fatalities with take-home naloxone: pre-launch study of possible impact and acceptability. Addiction 1999;94:199-204. [MEDLINE]