Rivera stressed, "The practice of making Naloxone accessible to addicts is absolutely necessary. It is part of the Harm Reduction approach to our society's struggle with addiction. Everyone should be trained in administering Naloxone, similar to learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR, especially those who have family members who are addicts or anyone else who is likely to encounter an overdose victim."
According to Rivera, statistics show opioid overdose can take up to three hours to result in death of the victim. It is imperative that Naloxone be administered during that timeframe to save a life and reverse the effects of the opioids in the system. In some cases, one dose of Naloxone will be insufficient to produce a response in the victim and a second dose within a specified timeframe by a trained individual may be required. Rivera advises, "Unfortunately, the truth is, most street heroin now contains clandestinely produced fentanyl and even carfentanil. Carfentanil is a large animal tranquilizer, powerful enough to sedate an elephant. Due to the potency of these synthetic street drugs, Naloxone won't always save the overdose victim." Rivera states that Naloxone only works on opioids and is ineffective against overdoses involving non-opioid drugs or synthetic drugs like Spice or Bath Salts. He adds, "Heroin users and pain pill addicts do not realize the substances they buy may not even contain actual heroin, or be a real oxycodone tablet, but could be pure fentanyl or worse, pure carfentanil."
Rivera suggests opioid addicts and their loved ones carry Naloxone on them at all times so it is readily available in case of an accidental overdose. He adds that "most addicts who die of a drug overdose have overdosed many times before, but were revived by EMTs administering Naloxone. However, with so much street heroin and opioids laced with synthetic materials, unwary addicts have a false sense of security about their life and death choices. They don't realize Naloxone can't save them every time."
To learn more about Naloxone or to attend a presentation/training event by Training i.D.E.A., LLC owner and retired Drug Enforcement Administration executive Warren Rivera, contact him directly via his website at www.TrainingIDEA.com or email him directly at wrivera@trainingidea.com.
Contact
Training i.D.E.A., LLC
Warren Rivera
***@trainingidea.com
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