NY Launches Opioid Awareness Campaign

NY Launches Opioid Awareness Campaign

Introduction

After eight individuals overdosed there in the first week of July, authorities in the US state of New York started a campaign to raise awareness about the growing opioid addiction problem.

The city of Schenectady, which is not far from the state capital of Albany, saw all eight of the fatal overdoses. Authorities responded to at least two further non-fatal overdoses over the subsequent week, according to the Schenectady Police Department.

Law enforcement organised public awareness workshops to teach people how to administer Naxolone, one of two over-the-counter overdose reversal medications authorised by US health regulators, in order to address the substantial increase in overdoses.

The Food and Drug Administration added RiVive, another naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray, to the list of overdose-reversing medications just two weeks later.

The governor of New York launched a state-wide TV campaign to alert citizens about the risks of addiction, particularly those posed by fentanyl, which is largely to blame for the rise in overdose deaths countrywide.

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is said to be 50–100 times more potent than morphine, and overdose deaths from using it are on the rise. According to the most recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it includes a 56% rise from 2019 to 2020. According to the CDC's preliminary statistics, the incidence of mortality has increased much more in the intervening years.

Fentanyl is dangerous because it is frequently combined with other illegal substances that are sold illegally, as was the case with the two people who experienced non-fatal overdoses in Schenectady.

Police connected those overdoses to a baggie they all bought that seemed to be cocaine but was really filled with amphetamine and fentanyl. In addition to its media effort, the state of New York is working with NEXT Distro, a non-profit organisation located in New York City that fights overdose fatalities, to broaden access to Naxolone.

The governor stated in a statement that residents of New York continue to experience the effects of fentanyl and the ongoing opioid and overdose crisis in every neighbourhood around the state. We are working around the clock to solve this public health disaster.

She said, we need to do everything we can to save lives, and that starts with educating New Yorkers about the risks associated with these substances and the resources available to assist everyone who has been affected.