Harm
Reduction:
Boston
About
to
Move
to
Supply
Addicts
with
Heroin
Antidote
8/11/06
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/448/boston_to_provide_heroin_antidote_naloxone.shtml
Boston public health authorities will likely approve a trial program providing heroin users with naloxone (brand name Narcan) next week, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday. If the Boston Public Health Commission indeed approves the program, it will join cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, and New York where authorities have already approved its distribution to drug users.
In many locales, only paramedics or hospital emergency rooms administer the drug, which can stop a heroin overdose from turning into an overdose death. But with Boston facing a high number of heroin overdose deaths -- fatal overdoses increased 50% between 1999 and 2003 -- city health officials want to put the drug where it can do the most good most quickly: in the hands of drug users.
"The number one hope with this is to save lives," Public Health Commission executive director Joel Auerbach told the Globe. "Our paramedics have said it's a miracle drug. They've seen people who are comatose who are then revived and perfectly fine."
The trial run is expected to enroll 100 heroin users, who would have to undergo training and evaluation, as well as listen to encouragements to quit. But if they were not prepared to stop using, they would be instructed in how to administer Narcan. Then they would be given a prescription for two doses.
The proposed move comes just a week after the Office of National Drug Control Policy -- the drug czar's office -- rejected the idea as somehow encouraging drug use. "We don't want to send the message out that there is a safe way to use heroin," ONDCP spokesperson Jennifer DeVallance told the AP.
-- END --
|
Issue #448
-- 8/11/06
Editorial:
Legalize
the
Drug
Trade
to
Cut
Off
Terrorism
Funding
|
Feature:
South
Dakota
Medical
Marijuana
Patient
Sues
Attorney
General
Over
Bad
Ballot
Summary
Language
|
Feature:
Federal
Sentencing
Reform
Goes
NASCAR
|
Feature:
Signature
Drive
for
Portland
"Lowest
Priority"
Marijuana
Initiative
Falls
Short
|
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Marijuana:
Colorado
Legalization
Backers
Turn
in
110,000
Signatures
in
Ballot
Bid
|
Marijuana:
Michigan
Organizers
Hand
in
Signatures
for
Two
Local
Ballot
Initiatives
|
Medical
Marijuana:
AFSCME
Endorses
Medical
Marijuana
|
Harm
Reduction:
Boston
About
to
Move
to
Supply
Addicts
with
Heroin
Antidote
|
Methamphetamine:
Tennessee
Judge
Throws
Out
Manufacture
Precursor
Cases
|
Middle
East:
Now,
Israelis
Call
for
Boycott
of
Hezbollah
Hashish
|
Web
Scan:
New
Video
from
"Emperor
Of
Hemp"
Creator,
Jim
Hightower
on
Marijuana
War,
Spitzer
Flakes
on
Medical
Marijuana
|
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
|
Weekly:
the
Reformer's
Calendar
|
|
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This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
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