Still thinking about that horrible PI and her horrible naloxone paper...just in case people were unaware, no one wants to take naloxone. It is going to feel extremely horrible, shitty doesn't even begin to describe. No one is keeping it around so they can be more reckless.

Opioid overdose happens bc the parts of the brain that keep you breathing are very sensitive to opioids. Too much and you stop breathing. Indeed when you have anesthesia with opioids, they give you other medication to combat what is called "respiratory depression"

Bc of their biological mechanism, people also develop tolerance to opioids. That is, more is required to obtain the same effects over time. This occurs for both people taking opiods for pain medication as well as with people misusing opioids and with opioid use disorder (OUD)

One of the times people are liable to overdose is following a period of abstinence, this is partially due to reduced physiological tolerance. Opioids physically change the brain, and how parts of the brain talk to each other. OUD has ~90% relapse rate. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cpu.30108#:~:text=It%20has%20been%20known%20for,been%20incarcerated%2C%20and%20therefore%20abstinent.

Naloxone (Narcan) is a crucial tool for saving lives. A general opioid receptor antagonist, it rapidly knocks the opioid (e.g. heroin, fentanyl, codine) off of the receptor it binds to. It does this very quickly, in less than a min, and stops the signaling process.

This prevents the respiratory depression and allows the patient to start breathing. It is critical, however, that people have access to administer it, and that they do it fast enough before damage is done from the hypoxia (lack of oxygen) or if the patient dies.

The notion that anyone's life isn't worth saving is abhorrent to me. If it is legal in your state I highly recommend people consider carrying Narcan, especially if someone in your life is suffering from an OUD.