Despite the best efforts of lawmakers and outpatient detox facilities to curb the opiate epidemic, overdose rates remain on the rise in America. With 100 people dying from drug overdoses every day in the United States, this is no small issue. Increasing access to outpatient detox, cracking down on the misuse of prescription painkillers and taking steps to get illegal opiates like heroin off the streets are all part of the solution, none of these measures can help a person who’s already in the grips of an opiate overdose and has only minutes, maybe even seconds, to live.
Naloxone can. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that works to quickly and effectively reverse overdose by clearing the drug from the opioid receptors in the brain. Though law enforcement officers in some locations are already carrying a nasal spray version of the drug, and EMTs throughout the country carry an injectable version of the drug. These initiatives have already been credited with saving hundreds of lives around the country. Now, a new, auto-injection device called Evzio has been approved by the FDA for use by parents, friends, caregivers and drug abusers themselves.
Keeping Addicts Alive Is the First Step in Getting Them into Outpatient Detox
Addiction is a disease, and opiate addiction in particular is insidious. With so many people around the nation struggling against opiate addiction at the moment, access to outpatient detox programs is hard to come by. Many addicts sadly succumb to overdose long before they can get the help that outpatient detox programs provide.
Why don’t addicts get help? Many fear going through excruciating withdrawal symptoms, and don’t understand that outpatient detox medications completely relieve those symptoms. They may be in denial, or suffering from such shame, guilt, and low self-esteem that they believe treatment couldn’t help them anyway.
Many addicts desperately want help, but don’t know where to turn. They fear that they’ll be persecuted if they admit that they need outpatient detox for an addiction to heroin or prescription painkillers. They may worry about being able to pay for the treatment. In many cases, they simply don’t know where or how to access it.
In the meantime, they keep using opiates – and each time they do, they’re at risk of overdose. Given enough time, most opiate addicts will seek help and enter recovery – but many run out of time on the day when they take too much heroin or too many pills at once. A quick, safe, easy-to-administer naloxone injection could put the tools needed to save overdosing addicts in the hands of those who are most likely to be on the scene when the overdose occurs – spouses, partners, friends, acquaintances and family members. Putting this lifesaving drug into the hands of those who are closest to addicts saves the precious minutes needed to call in professional assistance from law enforcement or EMTs. A brush with overdose could be the wake-up call many addictions need to finally enter an outpatient detox program for opiate addiction treatment.
How Evzio Works
Evzio is the first naloxone treatment device that’s been approved by the FDA for use by non-medical professionals. It contains a pre-measured dose of the lifesaving drug, along with a device caregivers, friends and loved ones can use to practice administering the drug, complete with an audio recording of instructions. Evzio administers naloxone into the muscles of the thigh.
The device is available to the friends and loved ones of drug abusers, as well as the abusers themselves, via prescription. In many areas, however, programs already exist to maximize access to the drug, while minimizing the need for drug abusers or their friends and loved ones to actually visit a doctor. In these areas, participating pharmacies collaborate with authorizing physicians to make the prescriptions available to anyone who is willing to sit through a 20-minute session of education about both drug abuse and how Evzio is administered.
If you or someone you love is addicted to opiate drugs, educate yourself about Evzio’s availability in your area. Keeping some naloxone on hand could save yours or your loved one’s life in the event of an overdose. If you or your loved one is ready to seek help from an outpatient detox for opiate addiction, help is just a phone call away.
Call The Delray Center For Healing @ 888-699-5679 today.