Portland to provide anti-overdose drug

PORTLAND – Faced with a surge in heroin-related deaths, city officials plan to provide the anti-overdose drug naloxone to addicts.

Officials also plan to stock naloxone on Portland firetrucks as well as ambulances, and to train intermediate emergency medical technicians to administer the drug along with paramedics.

Portland has tallied more than 200 overdoses and 20 overdose deaths since January, up from 16 overdose deaths in all of 2001.

The naloxone program is being modeled after similar efforts in Chicago, San Francisco, Providence, R.I., New Mexico, Germany and Australia, where the drug has been credited with saving lives. Portland officials expect to have a formal plan in place by September.

“We’re focusing on the problem as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue,” said Gerald Cayer, Portland’s director of health and human services. “Our short-term goal is to reduce mortality. Our long-term goal is to reduce opiate use.”

The Portland program would provide addicts with a kit that includes a dose of naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, latex gloves and alcohol wipes. The kits would be distributed by prescription through the India Street Clinic, where the city operates a needle-exchange program.

Addicts would be required to go through a training program to learn when and how to administer naloxone. They also would be encouraged to call 911 as soon as they suspect someone has overdosed.

If naloxone is injected in time, it can save the life of a drug user who has stopped breathing and become unconscious. The naloxone can halt the effects of heroin, methadone or other opiates for 45 to 90 minutes, allowing breathing to resume.

In many cases, it may be just enough time for paramedics to arrive and get the overdose victim to the hospital for further treatment. “We want people to stay alive long enough for EMS to get there,” Cayer said.