This documentary-stye training film, made in association Sawbuck Productions, provides instruction on how to recognize opioid overdose and respond effectively using a combination of rescue breathing and injectable naloxone, a pure opiate antagonist.
Naloxone is a generic, inexpensive pure opioid antagonist that reverses the effects of opioid intoxication (overdose) by restoring respiration. Although it’s been deemed “safer than sugar water” and has been used by paramedics and emergency room practitioners for more than 40 years, it’s available only by prescription. However, across the United States more than 200 community-based harm reduction organizations run “take home naloxone” programs that allow opioid users–and their friends and family–to obtain naloxone, and the training on how to use it effectively in response to an OD, free of charge.
Information video on overdose awareness and naloxone administration, featuring Dan Bigg, Sarz Maxwell and some of the participants from the Chicago Recovery Alliance.
It’s nearly 12:30 p.m. when a rushed young man drops by the Chicago Recovery Alliance’s parked silver truck in West Garfield Park. He’s turned away for HIV testing, but told to come back next week, but just a bit earlier. The truck can’t be late for its next stop in Austin. If the staff and volunteers don’t show up, addicts might think the program, like others facing budget shortfalls, is unreliable. And that means next time they need clean syringes, they might not come back to the truck.
This 2006 film offers a tutorial for drug injectors and those who work to assist them in achieving “any positive change.” The film’s objective is to provide viewers with real-life examples of practical, realistic techniques for reducing the risk of acquiring and/or transmitting hepatitis B/C during the drug injection process. The film breaks the drug injection process into stages, or steps.