It’s International Overdose Awareness Day, and Toward the Heart is trying to reduce the number of people who die from overdoses every year in BC.
Epidemiologist Ashraf Amlani says the provincial harm reduction program is run by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Through their Take Home Naloxone (THN) program, she says they’re teaching people how to avoid overdosing on opiates, and giving them a good shot at surviving one.
Amlani says, with help from local service providers, they’ve given out more than 3000 overdose prevention kits since 2012, and roughly 260 have been used to reverse an overdose. She says there are 92 distribution sites across the province.
There’s is one location in Nanaimo and two on the Sunshine Coast where people can access the Take Home Naloxone (THN) program. There are more details online.
