Freed Inmates To Get Naloxone Doses From Sheriff

Freed Inmates To Get Naloxone Doses From Sheriff

Introduction

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office has announced the delivery of 2,000 naloxone, opioid reversal pills, to individuals freed from New Orleans' central jail as part of a nationwide campaign to minimize drug overdose deaths.

The anti-opiate medicines are being distributed after the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the treatment for over-the-counter sale on March 29. Anyone discharged from the Orleans Justice Center will be given Kloxxado, a brand-name nasal spray form of naloxone.

The Sheriff's Office, the Recently Incarcerated Transitions Clinic, the NGO Voice of the Experienced, and the manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals collaborated on the initiative.

Individuals leaving jails and prisons are up to 129 times more likely to die from an overdose, according to the Sheriff's Office, since their tolerance for narcotics drops while jailed.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, was a role in 94% of overdose-related deaths in New Orleans in 2021, according to the Sheriff's Office, making naloxone distribution even more critical. Overdose deaths in New Orleans in 2021 were more than five times higher than in 2015.

The contribution was praised by the executive director of UNITY of Greater New Orleans, the city's largest supplier of homeless services. She claims that homeless individuals are prone to substance misuse because drugs and alcohol help them sleep or relieve pain in stressful and dangerous settings.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals contributed 2,000 eight-milligram nasal naloxone dosages to the Recently Incarcerated Clinic, which then distributed them to the Sheriff's Office. After the original supply of naloxone is depleted, the Sheriff's Office intends to apply to the Louisiana Department of Health for more, according to a spokeswoman.