United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, issued a national public health advisory April 6, urging opioid users — and their family and friends — to carry and learn how to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone.
The move marks the first time a U.S. surgeon general issued a public health advisory since 2005, when the surgeon general warned against consuming any alcohol while pregnant, according to The New York Times.
"Each day we lose 115 Americans to an opioid overdose — that's one person every 12.5 minutes," Dr. Adams said. "It is time to make sure more people have access to this lifesaving medication, because 77 percent of opioid overdose deaths occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home."
The public advisory specifically identifies several groups of individuals as being at elevated risk for opioid overdose: those who misuse prescription opioids, heroin and illicit fentanyl users, and those recently released from jail or an addiction treatment program.
To read the full public health advisory, click here.
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