Cory Monteith's life came to an abrupt end on July 13, 2013, when he overdosed from a combination of alcohol and heroin. About half a year later, on January 2, 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead, with heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and amphetamine in his system. Their deaths could have been prevented in a various amount of options, including with what has been referred to as a "miracle drug" -- one that has brought people back from the brink of death.
Naloxone, a classified prescription medication in the United States, is used to block the effects of opioids in the body. Not only has this drug saved literally thousands of lives, naloxone itself does not have any negative effects, even if administered to someone with no opioids in their body. Because of its effectiveness, it has been consistently featured on the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines. With all of its benefits, naloxone, and its role in the greater harm reduction movement needs to become more recognized.
When it comes to drugs, harm reduction acknowledges that people, despite current laws, will partake in drug activity and that it is a community's job to ensure the safety of the users. Needle exchanges are common programs within the harm reduction umbrella. While disease prevention and responsible use are often covered by activists, addressing overdoses is a necessary aspect of harm reduction as well.
Certain drugs, such as marijuana and MDMA, have little to no records about deaths caused by overdose. Unfortunately, opioids, including both prescription and street drugs, have more of a potential for abuse and overdose. Because of the lack of transparency when it comes to buying substances in the black market, users cannot fully know the concentration of what they buy (making it easy to unknowingly take a higher dose), or could be buying a drug mixed with or completely replaced by another drug. Fentanyl, for example, is being blended with heroin.
Heroin, probably the most famous street opioid, played a part in both Cory Monteith's and Philip Seymour Hoffman's deaths. As much as many of us would have preferred they had just not used this substance, it was their reality, and even with treatment, users have to experience withdrawals, making a clean recovery nearly impossible. In addition to naloxone that could have reversed any potential opioid overdose in Monteith and Hoffman, there were two other means that could have ensured their safety: 1) Not mixing substances, and 2) being in the presence of other people.
Many drugs have the potential to be dangerous, even more so when mixed with other drugs, especially alcohol. Combining drugs may make symptoms worse, or the drugs could interact in competing, and deadly, ways. When someone takes drugs in the company of another person, that other person can administer life-saving services or call 911 if there is a medical emergency. (Good Samaritan laws in certain areas will provide limited immunity from arrest in such a situation.)
While naloxone will not stop a methamphetamine or any other kind of overdose, it can aid in multiple-drug overdoses by taking care of any opioids in the system. If someone trained in administering naloxone is present while someone is dying from opioid or combination overdose, not only can they call an ambulance, but provide life-saving short-term care.
Becoming trained in giving naloxone is not only necessary for first responders, but for those who take opioids, know those who do, or praise the importance of harm reduction. We need to stop focusing on drug use prevention as the only means of drug safety and put our efforts into utilizing harm reduction techniques, such as using naloxone, if we are serious about saving lives. Too many people have perished early from opioid overdoses, and only by recognizing harm reduction, can we effectively save users from such an end.
