The Chicago Recovery Alliance has been assisting opiate overdose prevention with naloxone training and distribution since 1996 through our harm reduction outreach in Chicago. Through June of 2011 we have received 2,601 reports of peer opiate-involved overdose reversal. What follows is a first hand account of one of those reversals as written up by a CRA participant in early July 2011.Anonymous Report from Chicago July 4, 2011
I had been drifting away from my heroin addiction along with my partner, for most of 2011. While neither of us made the commitment to permanently abstain, there were several reasons to back things down, not the least of which was the level of financial support we could give our children. Either way, we were well underway in reducing dose and frequency. We used the mix it all up and boil it down to a desired level such as 100ml in order to create a uniform purity and allow a predictable decreasing dependency. Our support of each other is the backbone of this approach and we were doing very well...bills were easier to pay and the worry of financial hardship became rarer and rarer...Until a reason to celebrate came...
