Sask. regulatory change makes naloxone kits available outside pharmacies

Naloxone kits will be more accessible to people at risk of opioid overdose and their families after a regulatory change to allow wider distribution of the overdose kits. 

Naloxone can be used to temporarily reverse the effects of an overdose of opioids, including fentanyl, until emergency medical care can be provided.

Until recently, only pharmacies were legally allowed to distribute take-home naloxone kits, and the training needed to obtain one was only provided through scheduled programs.

On May 11, the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals reclassified the medication to give it "unscheduled status," meaning it can now be issued in locations other than pharmacies.   

AIDS Saskatoon starts distributing kits

AIDS Saskatoon is among the first to start distributing the take-home naloxone kits.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has trained two of its workers to deliver instruction in using naloxone, and they are training the centre's other workers.  

Friday was the first day that AIDS Saskatoon started providing the training at its drop-in centre and needle exchange on 33rd Street.

AIDS Saskatoon executive director Jason Mercredi said the change will significantly improve access to the kits.

Demand expected to grow

"With the limited hours of the way the naloxone program was run formerly, it made that very tough, because we're trying to schedule something for people who don't live on a schedule," he said.

"The fact that we can make it available immediately on-site is going to reduce a lot of barriers, so we're expecting that demand to grow over the next couple of months."

According to a memo from the college of pharmacy professionals, the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority will work with community-based organizations to provide standard naloxone training and education.

Mercredi praised the provincial government for its efforts to introduce the change, after three people in Saskatoon died from suspected fentanyl overdoses in March.

Change helps make Sask. better prepared

Police believe the three who died were using cocaine laced with fentanyl when the overdoses occurred.

Mercredi believes the regulatory change will significantly increase the number of potentially life-saving kits on the streets.

"We have street-level people coming in, and so when fentanyl starts to hit the streets in a major way, the kits are going to be out there and we are going to be able to prevent a lot of deaths and avoid situations like what happened in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario," he said.

He said his organization can now also provide training at places like universities and bars.