Last week, Merv with Pharmasave presented on how to administer Naloxone to a room full of Alberta Community Peace Officers at their annual conference hosted by Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
Naloxone is a medication designed to reverse opioid poisoning. In Alberta, and most parts of Canada, opioid deaths continue to rise drastically each year. News releases, RCMP stats, AHS stats and even Netflix are educating us on the rising concern of opioids.
Opioids have been around for thousands of years. Originating from the Opium poppy they are used for pain, pleasure, relief and sedation. Sometimes even diarrhea. Opium, codeine and morphine are products of the poppy, while heroin, methadone, oxycodone, hydromorphone and fentanyl/carfentanyl are synthetic opioids and more potent.
Affecting our behaviour, thoughts and feelings, opioids are depressants. They slow the central nervous system, which means:
- Slow breathing
- Slow heart rate
- Decreased alertness
But even though opioids are a depressant, they can also create feelings of euphoria, intense pleasure and disconnection.
It’s important to understand though, that opioids can be taken in a safe and stable way. Not all use will lead to dependence.
The current problem is that they’re often being mixed for street use with non-opioids without the user’s knowledge, creating deadly combinations.
Remember above when we said an opioid is a depressant? Mixing depressants with depressants (like alcohol or Ativan) creates a lot of slow breathing, a real slow heart rate and next-to-nothing alertness. At some point, everything just stops. Mixing depressants with stimulants (like cocaine or methamphetamine) makes the user hardly aware of the decreases in their central nervous system. They’re happy and high. Until everything just stops.
What we have to start wrapping our head around, though, is that this is not just a drug problem. This is a human problem, and we can all help. Opioid deaths are rising because knowingly or unknowingly drugs are being mixed and cut, and individual tolerance (which varies anyway) is reduced.
We need to stop thinking of these as overdoses.
They’re poisonings.
And numbers are pointing to the fact that opioid poisonings are touching closer and closer to home. They are our children, our fathers, our mothers, our friends. And yes, they are the person on the street who for whatever circumstance or reason is only a decision different from you and me.
So, how do we address this social issue?
Naloxone helps. A harm reduction drug that like a seat belt, bike helmet or EpiPen, its sole purpose is to save a life.
What you should know about Naloxone:
- It’s easy to administer.
- It reverses an opioid poisoning.
- It blocks the effects of opioids, allowing a person to breathe normally.
- Naloxone will not get a person high, is not addictive and will not harm a person if opioids are absent.
If you’re a parent, a teacher, a teenager, a peace officer, a butcher, baker, a candlestick maker (you get the picture), everyone should have a Naloxone kit handy.
We keep a kit in our bathroom because so many people know Merv is a pharmacist, and there is always an off chance that someone knocks on our door for medical assistance – it’s happened for Band-Aids! When our children went to university, we sent a kit with their toiletries to keep in their apartment, praying they’d never need it for themselves or their friends but preparing them in case they did.
Everyone can save a life. Naloxone, and how to use it, is freely available at most pharmacies, including Pharmasave Jasper. Just ask.
Have more questions? Merv and Courtney, your Pharmasave pharmacists, are here when you need us.
Laurie-Ell Bashforth is the owner of Pharmasave Jasper and a professional Life + Leadership Coach.
