Pubdate: Wed, 03 Feb 2016
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Reid Southwick
Page: 13

FENTANYL ANTIDOTE MORE READILY AVAILABLE

Health officials are trying to curb the rising death toll from 
fentanyl by setting up 29 clinics that will hand out a life-saving antidote.

The new dispensing strategy makes naloxone more readily available to 
suburban teenagers and other users who have been dying from fentanyl 
in big numbers but were unlikely to obtain the medicine under previous efforts.

The new wave comes in the wake of news that 272 Albertans, including 
81 from Calgary, died from fentanyl overdoses in 2015, more than 
double the 120 deaths reported the year before.

"It's been a challenge to reach suburban or recreational users who 
may not feel they are at risk," said Dr. Nicholas Etches, the medical 
officer of health for the Calgary area.

Health authorities must "make naloxone available in a way that is 
accessible to that population... This is an effort to do that, to 
make sure that if you're using fentanyl, that you're able to get the 
help that you need."

Alberta's health authority will distribute 4,000 naloxone kits to the 
walk-in clinics and eight needle exchanges that have already been 
prescribing the antidote.

Under this new distribution plan, naloxone kits will be distributed 
at health clinics at the University of Calgary and SAIT. The medicine 
will also be prescribed at the Drop-In Centre, a homeless shelter, 
and at the anti-poverty group CUPS.

Users can walk into these sites to be trained on how to stop opioid 
overdoses with an injection before walking away with doses of 
medicine and needles.

Naloxone reverses the effects of opioid overdoses by removing the 
drug from brain receptors, allowing users to breathe again.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom