Police departments and safety officers on college campuses carry them.
And now, with the surge in heroin and opioid overdoses, members of the general public can be trained to use overdose reversal kits.
UR Medicine's Strong Recovery is beginning a monthly program for those who have friends and family members they know or suspect of using the drugs, or addicts who want to be able to help their friends.
"Statistics show that there is usually someone around, people are using with someone else. We try to teach them what the laws are, the protections that they have so that they do call for help and if they have naloxone, to administer it. So usually they have time to act," said Patrick Seche, director of Strong Recovery.
Seche said participants in the monthly training will get free kits with two doses of the heroin antidote naloxone in the form of a nasal spray. He does not believe the availability of naloxone will encourage drug users to take more chances. "Because the effects of nalaxone when someone overdoses on opioids, it's not a pleasant experience for the person you're administering naloxone to. So, they don't want to get to the point where they overdose and have to have someone administer naloxone."
The program will be held the first Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at Strong Recovery on the University of Rochester campus.
To register, contact Michele Herrmann at (585) 275-1829 or Michele_Herrmann@urmc.rochester.edu
