School Arms Against Heroin Overdoses

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on November 12, 2015 under Addiction Trends, Opiate Abuse, Prescription Drugs | Comments are off for this article

One high school is making headlines for its bold move against heroin overdoses. They have stockpiled Evzio, which is the brand name of a naloxone injection device used against heroin overdoses. School administrators will train their nursing staff to administer the medicine in the event that one of the students suffers from an overdose of heroin or other opiates. This precautionary measure was taken after the amount of students who abused heroin and pain pills skyrocketed. School officials determined that in order to provide a safe environment for their students they needed to have access to the life-saving medicine.

Naloxone reverses the effects of an opiate overdose by immediately counteracting it and throwing someone into withdrawal. It has become more widely used in emergency settings lately as the opiate addiction problem continues to get worse.

Instead of punishing addicts, many communities are pushing for treatment and proper medical attention. This change in viewpoint comes after more and more families throughout the country have experienced the devastating effects of opiate addiction and understand that punishment does not help as effectively as treatment.

Some people have denounced the increasing availability of naloxone, as they believe it just encourages addicts to continue using their drugs, but with less risk. However, there has been no evidence to support such a stance, and instead there have been many lives saved as a result of the medication being more widely available and used. The fact that schools are now starting to carry and administer the drug speaks volumes about the scope of the opiate problem and how necessary it is to combat it from all levels.