Naloxone

For people who use opiates such as heroin and the people who care about them, it's really important to know about Naloxone.

Naloxone is drug that is used to reverse the effects of opioids such as heroin, morphine, methadone, fentanyl and oxycontin. It is sometimes known by the brand name, Narcan.

If someone has overdosed on heroin or another opiate, an injection of Naloxone will reverse the overdose – which means the person will wake up/become conscious again. It doesn’t have any effect if no opiates are in a person’s system, and it also has no effect on other drugs including benzos, alcohol or ice.

Naloxone is only active in the body for about 1-2 hours, which means there is a risk of re-overdosing on opiates like heroin especially if a person uses again after waking.

See the Australian Drug Foundation for more drug facts