Cork City firefighters to begin carrying drug that reverses overdoses

Naloxone works by displacing opioid molecules from their receptors in the body and brain. It regulates the effects of an opioid for up to 90 minutes. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty

Firefighters in Cork City will be able to administer a potentially life-saving anti-overdose drug from Wednesday.

Naloxone is a prescription-only medication used as an antidote to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs such as heroin, morphine, codeine, and methadone, as well as synthetic opioids such as nitazene.