Naloxone, a drug that can reverse heroin overdoses, should be routinely provided to patients who take prescription narcotics to manage pain, San Francisco public health officials said in a study released Monday, according to SFGate.
Naloxone can be injected or ingested through a nasal spray. Often sold under the brand name Narcan, naloxone has become popular as an antidote for heroin overdoses among drug abusers. Naloxone has been distributed to heroin users and their friends and relatives in San Francisco for more than 15 years to prevent heroin overdose deaths. The result has been significant: The rate of overdoses has declined from 120 in 2000 to 30 in 2014, according to the report.
Despite its proven effectiveness, naloxone isn't widely distributed to those who comprise the larger population of prescription drug users, who now account for more than 75 percent of all overdose deaths in San Francisco, according to the report.
"This study really does show that naloxone has a substantial role to play in managing the opioid epidemic," said Phillip Coffin, MD, director of substance use research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and lead author of the paper, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "It's not the answer to all our problems, but it's an important tool to prevent mortality."