Good News on Naloxone

Concerns that access to lifesaving naloxone might inadvertently increase opioid misuse and overdose remain a barrier to distribution efforts. Now, researchers who examined data on adolescent substance use from a national survey of high school students report that adopting laws that make naloxone more easily available does not seem to be associated with changes in adolescent lifetime heroin or injection drug use. In fact, naloxone access was more consistently associated with decreases rather than increases in use. The findings, which cover 2007 to 2019, are published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. “Efforts to improve naloxone access continue to be an urgent public health priority,” says senior author Silvia Martins, MD, PhD, professor of Epidemiology. “This is important for people of all ages.”

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