Interested in learning more about opioid overdose and how to build prevention projects? The recently launched NaloxoneInfo.org site is worth a look. Made live during the International Harm Reduction Conference in June 2013, the site was developed by the Open Society Foundations in collaboration with Population Services International, Harm Reduction International, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, the Scottish Drugs Forum, Harm Reduction Coalition, and the Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs.
The site is currently available in English and Russian and includes background information on overdose by region, a number of useful case studies, and tons of freely downloadable program, training, and advocacy materials that should help anyone starting a project.
A new article tells the story of naloxone in Scotland - how it went from an idea to a national program. While the whole article is an interesting case study, some of my favorite parts are on empowerment and reductions in drug-related deaths:
"Similar to Glasgow and Lanarkshire, the qualitative feedback from those followed up in the Inverness project also highlighted increases in confidence and self-esteem among the participants who attended for a re-supply interview. Indeed, clients themselves appeared to look on the training as providing them with a degree of responsibility and seemed to relish their role as peer educators. Clients who had been trained were also hugely successful in engaging their peers with the project which complemented staff attempts to recruit participants to training sessions."
also
"Potentially, the most significant impact the Inverness pilot made locally, and indeed nationally, was the unexpected and almost immediate impact on DRD rates. In 2008, prior to the pilot starting, there were 20 DRDs [drug-related deaths] in the Inverness area covered by the pilot (Ross, personal communication, May 2011). By the end of 2009 there were 13 DRDs, 8 of which occurred prior to the pilot commencing in July. In 2010 that number had fallen to just two DRDs. Moreover, DRD figures for the wider Highland Council area (which incorporates Inverness) had fallen from 20 in 2008, to just 6 in 2010 (GRoS, 2011). While it is impossible to directly infer a causal relationship here, and attribute these falls in DRDs directly to the naloxone programme, it does present a strong case for further investigation, specifically exploring whether there are other influencing factors present, e.g. a concurrent decrease in drug availability in the area or increases in treatment provision."
