There are several other approaches available, like providing the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, supervised consumption sites, and giving heroin to treatment-resistant patients.
Users were more isolated, leading to additional overdoses because other people were not nearby to summon first responders or administer the opioid antidote naloxone, experts said.
On Friday morning, county Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten is set to sign an order allowing lifesaving overdose reversal drug naloxone to be distributed throughout the county without prescriptions.
Homeless-serving nonprofit Father Joe’s Villages also reports that security guards who patrol around its facilities intervened in 41 overdose incidents last year, reviving all they aided with naloxone.