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MERRITT HERALD THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS

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DRUG POLICY

Take home naloxone coming to Merritt Cole Wagner THE MERRITT HERALD

With a wave of opioid overdoses sweeping across the province, and Canada at large, the Interior Health Authority announced Tuesday that all emergency health centres in its jurisdiction would be receiving take home naloxone kits to distribute to patients. Although most emergency rooms already had naloxone to use in case of emergency at the hospital, the new take

home naloxone kit program will allow staff to train opioid users in how to administer the potentially life-saving shot on their own, or to another, explained Dr. Silvina Mema with the IHA. “The goal is for everyone who is discharged from the hospital after suffering from an overdose to get a naloxone kit,” said Mema. Naloxone is a drug, which when injected intravenously (with a syringe) can slow down the effects of an opioid induced drug overdose.

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Two people have died from opioid overdoses in Merritt this year — although its not clear whether those deaths were related to growing concern over fentanyl (a potent opioid, often mixed with heroin). In Merritt, the kits will be available at the Nicola Valley Health Centre — although there is not enough to supply a kit to everyone who wants one, said Mema. “The supply of these kits is not endless,” she explained,

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