More People Without Medical Training Using Naloxone to Treat Opioid Overdoses

A growing number of people without medical training are using naloxone to treat opioid overdoses, a new study finds.

Researchers evaluated two years of data from the national emergency medical services (EMS) patient care record database, CNN reports. They found that the number of people receiving naloxone from laypersons before EMS arrived increased by 43.5% between June 2020 and June 2022. During that period, almost 25,000 people in the U.S. received naloxone from laypersons.

However, that represents only 3.4% of EMS activations involving naloxone, the study found. “In a perfect world, this should be closer to a 100%, highlighting a need to improve naloxone education, enhance access and investigate and remove obstacles to its use,” study corresponding author Chris Gage, PhD student at the Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, said in a news release.

Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved naloxone for over-the-counter use. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia provide legal immunity for Good Samaritans who help people experiencing an opioid overdose.