People urged to learn about anti-overdose drug

People in south Devon are being urged to learn how to use Naloxone

Residents in Torbay are being encouraged to learn how to administer a life-saving anti-overdose drug and carry it with them.

Naloxone is an antidote which can reverse the effects of overdoses of opioids, such as heroin.

The Torbay Naloxone Tribe are training people how to inject the drug while also providing them with a free naloxone kit.

Torbay Council member Hayley Tranter said they "want everybody in Torbay to know how to administer the medication".

Torbay Council said they want everybody to know how to administer the drug

The scheme by the Torbay Recovery Initiative and Torbay Council is part of an campaign to reduce drug-related deaths.

Naloxone can help restore the breathing of those experiencing opioid overdoses while they wait for emergency services to arrive.

Ms Tranter said she wanted training to use Naloxone to be an "extension of first aid".

'Reverse the effects'

Sgt Neil Powers, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers were equipped with nasal naloxone in their first aid kits and vehicles and all were "comfortable in the application" of it.

Jenny Whelband, the clinical team lead for Torbay Recovery Initiatives, said anyone administering the drug should not be worried about potentially hurting someone.

She said: "If you accidentally give them all five doses in one go, it's not the end of the world."

She added that if the person had "not overdosed on opioids", it would not make their symptoms worse, "it just won't do anything."

"If they are unconscious from another substance, or perhaps it's alcohol they've had but they are on methadone, for instance, it will reverse the effects and it still could bring them round," she said.