Officials in Massachusetts say a program that allows nonprofessionals to administer the anti-overdose drug Narcan has helped arrest the growing number of drug overdose deaths in the state, WBUR reported April 22.

On average, two people die daily in Massachusetts as a result of an overdose of opioids like heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl, experts say. But the number of drug overdose deaths remained flat between 2006 and  2007 — defying a trend which has seen yearly double-digit increases in heroin deaths over the past 15 years.

In 2007, the state began training active drug users to administer Narcan, the trade name for naloxone, in an effort to prevent overdose deaths among opiate users. Narcan interrupts an overdose in progress, providing time to get the victim further medical care, said Alex Walley, medical director for the state’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Program.
 
“Fatal opioid overdoses usually occur before emergency personnel get there and often they are witnessed by other drug users,” Walley said. “And there’s an opportunity to intervene because it takes time for a nonfatal overdose to become a fatal overdose.”

“Anecdotally, we know that we’ve saved a number of lives,” said Michael Botticelli, director of the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. “We’ve talked to parents who have actually administered [Narcan] to their children.”