29 Alberta clinics now offer naloxone kits for fentanyl overdose treatment

In an effort to address a rapid increase in fentanyl-related deaths in the province, Alberta Health Services announced Tuesday there will be expanded access to take-home naloxone kits. Naloxone is a drug that can temporarily reverse a fentanyl overdose.

Alberta Health is funding the distribution of 4,000 kits, and providing a mandatory training session that lasts between 10 and 15 minutes.

Twenty-nine walk-in clinics (scroll down for the full list) and eight existing harm reduction sites will receive the kits, along with the required prescription and training session.

The naloxone kits contain:

• Instructions on how and when to administer the drug;
• Two vials of naloxone;
• Syringes;
• An alcohol swab;
• Latex gloves;
• A one-way rescue breathing mask.

The training teaches mouth-to-mouth breathing and how to administer naloxone, which can temporarily reverse fentanyl’s effects if administered immediately. AHS said users then need to call 911 for more treatment.

Watch below: Global’s ongoing coverage of the rise in fentanyl trafficking and related deaths in Alberta

“When naloxone is available to individuals that are at risk to an overdose, they are able to respond very quickly when someone does overdose. We have evidence to show this actually reduces the mortality from fentanyl overdoses.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "When naloxone is available to individuals that are at risk to an overdose, they are able to respond very quickly when someone does overdose. We have evidence to show this actually reduces the mortality from fentanyl overdoses."

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Etches said the take-home kits are important for drug users as well as their family and friends.

“We encourage both people who are using these drugs as well as their family and loved ones to get educated about how to prevent overdoses and how to respond to them,” he said.

AHS said there were 272 overdose deaths involving fentanyl in Alberta in 2015, up from 120 in 2014.

However, Etches said the rate of fentanyl overdoses seems to be decreasing.

“It’s tough to speculate as to what the reasons are for why we’re seeing a slightly slowed rate of fentanyl overdose death. Certainly this is still an extremely high rate and we’re talking about hundreds of Albertan lives a year, which is a huge public health issue still,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's tough to speculate as to what the reasons are for why we're seeing a slightly slowed rate of fentanyl overdose death. Certainly this is still an extremely high rate and we're talking about hundreds of Albertan lives a year, which is a huge public health issue still," he said.

He adds that the take-home kits are a good interim step until Health Canada makes a decision about whether naxolone should be available without a prescription.

Paramedics in Alberta have always been able to administer naloxone, which is the reversal agent for any opioid narcotic medication. This may include codeine, Demerol, morphine, OxyContin, oxycodone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), heroin or fentanyl, among others.

“Medical practitioners i.e. paramedics (EMT-P), who are licensed to administer pharmaceutical  narcotics always carry, and are trained in the use of administering naloxone,” EMS spokesperson Stuart Brideaux told Global News. “It is standard practice that if you are responsible for administering narcotics to patients, you are also prepared to reverse or diminish the narcotic effect in their body if they accidentally receive too much or have an adverse reaction.”

Brideaux said naloxone is also carried for the reversal of opioid narcotic overdoses that have occurred outside a medical environment (i.e. street drug versions).

The expanded naloxone availability will help improve treatment access to rural parts of the province not easily reached by paramedics.

For more information, call Health Link at 811 or click here.

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