AS pain-relieving drug deaths reach a record high in England, research undertaken by Release raises concerns about provision of naloxone – a life-saving cost-effective medication proven to reduce opioid overdose deaths.

Data acquired through Freedom of Information requests found that, while 138 out of 152 councils provided take-home naloxone, the level was inadequate and not sufficient to prevent opioid deaths to any meaningful extent.

Only 40 take-home naloxone kits were provided in the borough of Hillingdon in 2016/17 – amounting to a mere 3% coverage (i.e. only three kits were given out for every 100 opiate users in the area).  

In the borough of Ealing that year, there was 6% coverage, but there were eight opiate-related overdose deaths in the borough in 2016 alone.  

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Zoe Carre, of Release, said: “There were nearly 1,900 opiate-related overdose deaths registered in England in 2016 - the highest number since records began, and more than four times higher than the figure in 1993.

“Many of these deaths could have been prevented if naloxone, a life-saving antidote to opioid overdose, was provided more widely for people to take home.

“The scale of the problem is a public health crisis. As such, it requires a national and co-ordinated response, and Government must not leave it to local authorities. It must take action to prevent more people dying.”

Naloxone can save the life of someone overdosing. It is cheap and has no potential for misuse.