Province looks to expand availability of anti-overdose drug

Nova Scotia's chief public health officer is looking to get the anti-overdose drug naloxoneat needle exchanges and methadone treatment programs in Halifax and Sydney.

Naloxone can be used to temporarily reverse an overdose of the deadly drug fentanyl or other opioids, giving a patient time to get emergency help. Naloxone is available as an injection or nasal spray.

"People who are currently using, whether it's prescription opioids or illicit sources of opioids, they're at the highest risk," said Dr. Robert Strang."So we're working to get those people access to naloxone. We know that all of EHS in the province has naloxone kits."

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The need for the drug has become apparent as a wave of overdose deaths from fentanyl rolls across much of the country. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than heroin and a dose the size of a grain of sand can kill.

Strang wants to make sure people can get naloxone easily at pharmacies across the province.

The take-home naloxone kit his department has put together costs $7 to $10 and includes two vials of naloxone with syringes for injection.

However, thecost can skyrocket when a similar kit is sold through a pharmacy.British Columbia pharmacies are charging between $70 and $100 for similar kits, said Strang, although it's not clear to him why.

"We need to find out how do we work with pharmacists and pharmacies, how do we make this very affordable? In some provinces, the province has funded and purchased [naloxone] then supplied it through pharmacies."

Fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled, and that's raised fears the general public may accidentally be exposed.

But Strang said "we need to work our way through more higher risk and likely scenarios and make sure naloxone is part of our thinking before we end up with broad public distribution where the risk is pretty low."

Some Halifax Regional Police officers and Halifax firefighters currently have access to naloxone. The province is trying to make sure volunteer fire departments in rural areas of Nova Scotia have access to the drug.

RCMP officers are also being equipped with naloxone nasal spray and 911 operators can coach people on how to inject naloxone.