New Zealand: Naloxone saves lives, so where is it?

By Rhiannon Davies / KnowYourStuff.NZ

June and July saw 13 people hospitalised from fentanyl overdoses. Those folk were sold what they were told was cocaine, and in at least one case, methamphetamine; but their substance turned out to be fentanyl bulked out with fillers. They were all given Naloxone on the way to hospital and were revived after falling unconscious and unresponsive.

Naloxone is a life-saving drug that reverses opioid overdose almost instantly. You can read about how it works in the body in our Fentanyl 101 blog post from a couple of weeks ago. Everyone in the media agrees that Naloxone is THE substance to keep on hand to stop people dying.

According to the Ministry of Health, we currently have enough Naloxone in hospitals and emergency services to keep us going for 60 weeks ‘at normal usage’.