Drug to reverse opioid overdoses should be given to every addict, Cork conference hears
Naloxone, a substance which can reverse an overdose and save a person’s life, should be rolled out extensively, including to all methadone patients when they collect their prescription, Mark Wright of The Recovery Academy Cork said. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty Images
A drug to reverse opioid overdoses could save lives if given with methadone in every pharmacy to people battling addiction, a conference on drug death bereavement in Cork has heard.
Naloxone, a substance which can reverse an overdose and save a person’s life, should be rolled out extensively, including to all methadone patients when they collect their prescription, Mark Wright of The Recovery Academy Cork said.
The HSE has made significant efforts to distribute naloxone to the communities that most need it in recent years.
But Mr Wright said it should be in every drug user’s family home and on landings in every prison.
The drug can be administered through a nasal spray as well as in injection form.
“On average, two people a day are dying from drug use," Mr Wright said. "If we have access to something that can save lives, why not use it?”
Saturday is International Overdose Awareness Day, an annual campaign to end overdose and remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of their loved ones.
University College Cork’s School of Applied Psychology hosted a conference on Friday to mark the event, examining the impact of drug-related grief on families, services and peers.
Drug-related deaths include more than just the generally assumed poisoning overdoses. Suicide and drug-induced violence can also cause those deaths, the conference heard.
“People tend to think of overdoses but it’s much more,” Senator Lynne Ruane, who was chairing the meeting, said.
Families bereaved by drugs can have extra layers of complexity to deal with within their grief, including a stigma that those who lose people due to natural causes or road traffic accidents do not have to contend with, Daniel O’Callaghan, PhD student at UCC School of Applied Psychology, said.
Although Ireland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, it is not tackled in the same way as road deaths — with public awareness campaigns and political focus, the conference heard.
Drug-related deaths tend to be clustered in certain communities, Ms Ruane said.
Although people from higher and lower socio-economic groups use the same amount of drugs, with middle-income earners using less, those from lower socio-economic groups are impacted much more negatively by that use, forming different relationships to drugs and with less access to supports when they need them, Dr Siobhan Lambert said.
If people are reliant on drugs it’s a mental health issue and should be treated as such, Dr Lambert said.
In Portugal, drug-related deaths were up at the highest levels in Europe, but following implementation of health-centred drug policy, drug related deaths have dropped to amongst the lowest, she said.
“Too many people are not here today who should be,” Dr Lambert said.
“We need our drug policy to change.”
"Pushing people into dark dirty alleys to use illegally is putting more strain on our healthcare system when instead the State could provide a clean environment where people in addiction could use drugs more safely, with opportunities for intervention and support from health and social services."
Aileen Malone, Families for Drug Reform and mother of the late journalist and activist Dara Quigley, said drug death bereavement was more intense and more complex than other forms of bereavement.
Specialised bereavement services were needed for those people now, she said.
Criminalising drug users leaves their loved ones dying “outside the bounds of normal society”, with the associated stigma and judgement, Ms Malone said.
The stigma makes it much harder to talk about their grief and “these layers of silence” then weave their way into all relationships, she said.
“You have to be careful what you say to people because it’s a special death, a complicated death. People are not sure how to approach it.”
And for drug users who lose people they love to drugs, that death often worsens their own use as people try to numb and suppress the pain and trauma of grief and loss, Mr Wright said.
Ireland has the highest rate of drug deaths in the EU, suffering four times the average fatality rate. A recent Citizens’ Assembly report highlighted the significant increase in drug-related deaths in the last four years, warning of “alarming levels” of death.
The artist Spicebag has created an art piece to be projected onto a wall in Cork city centre starting starting on Saturday to highlight the complex and stigmatised grief experienced by those who have lost loved ones or clients to drug-related deaths.
The ‘Hidden Grief’ project is a collaboration between UCC researchers, Spicebag, and community partners.
