Life-saving drug for opioid overdoses to be offered for free in Quebec pharmacies

The Quebec government has announced that naloxone, the fast-acting drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, will soonbe free and accessible in pharmacies across the province in an effort to prevent a full-blown fentanyl crisis.

"Making it available for free, that is the answer," said Quebec Health Minister GatanBarrette."But the real answer to this growing situation is about prevention, and there will be a comprehensive strategy put on the table by the end of this year."

The measureis part of a larger plan municipal and public health authorities are rolling outas the number of drug overdoses and deaths related to fentanyl, a powerful opioidand painkiller, has spiked in Montreal over the last year.

• Montreal mayor promises police, firefightersnaloxonekits for 'anticipated'fentanylcrisis

Dr. Carole Morissette, the doctor in charge of the response to the fentanylcrisis with Montreal Public Health, recently calledfentanyl'sgrowing presence in the citya "public health emergency."

Barrette said thesituation in Quebec right now isn't as critical as the oneunfolding in British Columbia, wheremore than four people a day are dying from illicit drug use, and most street drugs arefound to be laced withfentanyl.

But Barrette said providing wider access to naloxone is a crucial step inpreventing more deaths in Quebec.

"We are taking measures and putting in place those measures so that we do not get there," he said, adding that it wasn't "a question of costs, but a question of saving lives."

The decision is being praised by frontline community workers,who have been pushing for easier access to naloxone.

Louis Letellier de St-Just, the president ofCactus Montreal, a community group that works with intravenous drug users, said the development was "very encouraging," butthere is still more to be done.

"What we need to face the opioid crisis is to have an increase of thehours of the safe injection sites and give community organizations the possibility to distribute naloxone,"he said.

Police officers, firefighters to be able to give drug

Under the new plan,peoplewill no longer have to undergo special training in order to be allowed to administer naloxone.

The decision means that police officers and firefighters, like their counterparts in other provinces, willbe authorized to be equipped with naloxonekitsand to be able to administer naloxone in case of an overdose.

In August, harm reduction workers and local politicians had called on the Montreal police service to reconsider its position on carrying the drug, saying it would save lives.

• How to administer naloxone in case of opioid overdose

The provincial government has also ordered an investigation ofprescribing patterns and accessibility ofopioids, withthe help of Quebec's College of Physicians.

Public Health Minister LucieCharlebois said much of the preventive work is already underway, but, with the recent rash of opioid overdoses in Montreal,it was necessary to take swift action.

"I want to reassure the public," said Charlebois. "We're in prevention mode."