NDRI September webinar – Answering key questions on naloxone
WEDNESDAY SEPT 27, 11am–noon WST, 1–2pm EST
Presentation 1: Does take-home naloxone training lead to riskier drug use?
Presenter: Dr Samantha Colledge-Frisby
A common barrier to take-home naloxone (THN) training implementation is the concern that people who use drugs will be more likely to engage in risky behaviours, termed risk compensation. In a prospective cohort of people injecting drugs in Melbourne, we wanted to examine whether THN access and supply was associated with a range of overdose risk behaviours. We found no difference in injecting frequency, opioid injecting frequency, benzodiazepine use frequency, or the proportion of time using drugs alone before and after THN training and supply.
Presentation 2: Evaluation of the WA Police Force Naloxone Pilot: a summary of the main findings
Presenter: Dr Seraina Agramunt
Over the past 10 years, there has been an increase in opioid overdose rates. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, can effectively reverse the effects of an opioid overdose with minimal adverse effects. Police officers are often the first emergency responders to arrive at the scene of an overdose and may benefit from carrying naloxone. The aim of this evaluation was to examine the effectiveness of the first Australian pilot of police naloxone carriage and use, which was conducted by the WA Police Force with the support of the Mental Health Commission.
About our speakers
Dr Samantha Colledge-Frisby is a Research Fellow at the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) at Curtin University where she investigates clinical harms among people who inject drugs. Her research has broadly focused on injecting-related infections, overdose, harm reduction services, and suicide among people who inject drugs.
Dr Seraina Agramunt, a Research Associate at NDRI, has conducted research and assessed the effectiveness of several naloxone programs in the community, which have been instrumental in expanding these programs and advocating for the use of naloxone. She also coordinates the WA arm of the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), an ongoing national illicit drug monitoring system that analyses the use, market features, harms and trends of major illicit drugs.
Watch the recording
Posted on: 24 Aug 2023
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