Overdose prevention drug now available at Cape Breton drug stores

A drug that can prevent a fatal drug overdose is now available in several pharmacies in Cape Breton.

Naloxone can be injected into someone who has overdosed on fentanyl, morphine or another opiate.

Take-home kits of naloxone have been available to drug users in Cape Breton and Halifax since February as part of a pilot project, but access to those kits is tightly regulated.

"We've gotten lots of requests from family members of people who are using opiates to have it in their homes," said Christine Porter, the executive director of the Ally Centre of Cape Breton.

"Unfortunately, our demonstration project had certain criteria attached to it, so we were unable to give it those folks, but I can understand why they would want it."

No prescription necessary

Porter said families and friends of drug users can now purchase the kits over the counter at several Pharmasave locations locations in Sydney and New Waterford, without a prescription.

The kits sell for about $70 initially, with refills costing $40.

She told a gathering at the Ally Centre in Sydney on Wednesday that the kits save lives.

'Give it to people'

Wednesday is International Overdose Awareness Day, a day set aside to remember people who've died from drug overdoses.

Porter said she would like to see the kits made available to anyone for free, as is the case in some other provinces, including Ontario.

"If there's a life-saving medicine there, give it to people."

Porter couldn't say specifically whether the drug has saved lives in Cape Breton since February when the first naloxone kits were distributed.

She said results from the pilot project are still being compiled, "but, anecdotally, I will say yes it's saving lives throughout this country. It's proven to work and when put in the right hands, it does save lives."

Great peace of mind

Cape Breton has the highest rate of opiate overdoses per capita in Nova Scotia.

Porter said on average last year emergency responders received one call a day in Cape Breton about a drug overdose, although many were not fatal.

Her eyes filled with tears as she paused to remember people who've died in her 17 years working with addicts.

"We often walk alongside those folks, in those journeys, and become very close to them," she said.

Public health nurse Judy Kelley says she too wants to see naloxone kits more widely available in the community.

She says it's not just injection drug users who are in danger of taking a fatal dose.

"Elderly people are at risk, if they're prescribed a narcotic for pain."

She says it could provide great peace of mind for a family member to have an antidote readily available.