Heroin overdose antidote will help reduce deaths

About 600 heroin users are to be given a life-saving antidote in cases of overdoses, under a HSE project aimed at reducing drug deaths.

Drug users and those close to them have been trained on how to administer naloxone — which comes in a pre-filled syringe — and to recognise the signs of overdose.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar and Drugs Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin welcomed the confirmation by the HSE that naloxone was going to be made available from today on prescription.