As fentanyl continues to drive the American opioid crisis, restaurant and bar workers are emerging as essential players in overdose response and harm reduction efforts
Sarah Webster Norton’s hands are steady as she inverts the small glass vial and punctures its rubber seal with a needle. She draws the liquid — a clear, water-based solution of naloxone hydrochloride — into the syringe, angling the vial to take in every possible drop.
From there, the process is fairly fast and intuitive: To treat a person experiencing an opioid overdose, she has to inject the needle into a muscular part of their body, like the shoulder or thigh, and push down on the plunger to empty the syringe.
Then the naloxone goes to work: By attaching to opioid receptors in the body, it has the power to rapidly reverse an overdose and restore breathing. Sometimes, the first dose isn’t sufficient, so multiple doses are needed. Naloxone, once administered, remains effective for 30 to 90 minutes, so it’s not a permanent solution — rather a “Band-Aid solution” until paramedics arrive, Webster Norton says. But it can buy crucial, often life-saving time.
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