There is a treatment for opioid overdose. It's called naloxone. In the case of morphine, heroine or oxycodone overdose, for example, naloxone can be administered to save the overdosed person's life. Most of the time this requires a visit to the emergency room. There is a version of naloxone that could be administered outside of a hospital setting and save many lives. Sounds like a good idea to me. But some people think this is a bad idea. Some people think life-threatening overdoses serve as a preventative to drug use and as a means of convincing people to stop using drugs. So distribution of a form of naloxone, Narcan, that anyone can administer (its a nasal spray) would be, to some people, a bad thing. I think saving lives is more important.
But I wonder what other people think about this. Some non-profit groups and state health agencies have been distributing kits of vials of Narcan and a nasal mucosal administration device (also known as a nasal sprayer) to people who are drug users or family members of drug users. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Does it remove a necessary deterrent, or does saving lives quickly matter more?