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Chicago Jail Handing Out Naloxone to Inmates Upon Release

posted by martyb on Monday July 31 2017, @06:22PM   
from the lives-matter dept.

takyon writes:

The Cook County Jail in Chicago, IL has trained hundreds of inmates on how to use the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone, and has given doses out to inmates upon release:

Cook County now gives at-risk inmates the overdose-reversing drug naloxone upon their release from jail and Los Angeles is poised to follow suit, putting the antidote in as many hands as possible as part of a multifaceted approach to combatting the nation's opioid epidemic.

Cook County Jail, the largest single-site jail in the country, has trained about 900 inmates how to use naloxone nasal spray devices since last summer and has distributed 400 of them to at-risk men and women as they got out. The devices can undo the effects of an opiate overdose almost immediately and are identical to those used by officers in many of the country's law enforcement agencies.

[...] It is too soon to gauge the effectiveness of Cook County's program, but Dart said anecdotal evidence suggests that the kits have saved lives, including a man who was arrested again, returned to jail, and told of how a friend he had trained to use the kit had done so when he overdosed. In New York City, more than 4,000 kits have been distributed to friends and relatives of inmates at the city's jail at Rikers Island since the program there was launched in 2014.

Related: Kroger Supermarkets to Carry Naloxone Without a Prescription
Obama Administration Expands Access to Suboxone Treatment
One Upside to Opioid Overdoses: More Organ Donors
Development of a Heroin Vaccine

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Original Submission

• Drug harm reduction policies in Spain (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:28AM

  by c0lo (156) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @12:28AM (#547442) Journal

  I'll just let this (PDF) one [europa.eu] here for anyone really interested (Spain country drug report 2017).

  The TL;DR:

  • drug possession is not a crime in Spain. Drug trafficking is.
  • drug-related public expenditure was estimated to represent 0.03 % of gross domestic product.
  • In 2014, 6 441 emergency episodes related to drug use were notified and 556 drug-induced deaths were reported - in a population of 46.77 million. The proportion of heroin-related intoxications fell by a factor of 3 since 2000.
  • 2.1 per 1,000,000 population new HIV infections related to injectable drugs use
  • a decrease in the proportion of deaths attributed to both heroin and cocaine, with deaths mainly in the over 45 years of age (mirroring the ageing of the Spanish heroin users’ cohort)
  • the top 5 drugs use in Spain: cannabis at 23.1%, cocaine at 4.6%, MDMA at 1.9%, amphetamines at 1.4% and heroin at 0.21%.

  ---

  Some extensive excerpts with my emphasis and [addenda]:

  In 2013 and 2014, drug-related public expenditure was estimated to represent 0.03 % of gross domestic product. Most of the total of approximately EUR 333 million (about 65 %) was spent by the autonomous communities and cities, while the remaining 35 % was spent by the central government.
  ...
  In Spain, consumption or minor personal possession in public places is deemed a serious order offence, punishable by administrative sanctions (Figure 2), with fines of EUR 601 to EUR 30 000 [Law on the Protection of Citizens’ Security (2015), Article 36]. For minors, the fine can be suspended if the offender voluntarily attends treatment, rehabilitation or counselling activities.
  ...
  The prevalence of use of illicit substances in Spain has been relatively stable over the last few years, with approximately one third of the adult population reporting lifetime use of an illicit substance. Cannabis, followed by cocaine, is the most commonly used drug, with use mainly concentrated among adolescents and adults below 35 years. Although the latest available data from the 2015 general population study confirm that the prevalence of use of both substances has declined in the last 10 years, the levels of cannabis and cocaine use in Spain remain higher than in other European Union countries.
  [figure 4. shows cannabis use at 23.1%, cocaine at 4.6%, MDMA at 1.9% and amphetamines at 1.4%]
  ...
  In Spain, heroin remains the main substance linked to serious adverse health and social consequences, such as drug-related infections. The estimated number of high-risk heroin users has shown a decreasing trend since 2010, and remained stable in 2013-14 (Figure 6). The number of high-risk cocaine users in Spain has been falling since 2009. Injecting drug use has also declined in the last 30 years among those admitted to treatment.
  [Figure 7 shows heroin use at 0.21% - 2.1 per 1000 population]
  ...
  In the last 20 years, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has represented one of the main health problems associated with drug use in Spain. However, since the end of the 1990s, a significant decrease has been observed in HIV infection associated with injecting drug use (Figure 8).
  [Figure 8 shows 2.1 per 1,000,000 population new HIV infections related to injectable drugs use]
  ...
  Information on drug-related emergencies in Spain originates from the National Plan on Drugs, which was introduced in 1987, and which monitors hospital emergencies directly caused by non-medical use of psychoactive substances among 15- to 54-year-olds. In 2014, 6 441 emergency episodes related to drug use were notified, continuing the rather stable trend seen over the previous five years. Cocaine was the substance
  most frequently reported as the cause of the emergency episodes, followed by cannabis. The proportion of cannabis-related emergency episodes shows a clear upward trend since 2000, while the proportion of heroin-related intoxications fell by a factor of 3 during the same period. Amphetamines and MDMA were less common causes of drug-related emergencies in Spain in 2014; however, there are some indications of an upward trend in the last five years.
  ...
  The Special Registry, based on forensic and toxicological sources, indicated stable trends in drug-induced deaths in the last five years, with 556 drug-induced deaths reported in 2014. According to the available toxicological results, opioids, followed by cocaine, were found in the majority of deaths; however, there has been a decrease in the proportion of deaths attributed to both substances in recent years. Most victims were male and more than half were older than 45 years, which mirrors the ageing of the Spanish heroin users’ cohort.
  ...
  The reduction of drug-related risk and harm is one of the principal objectives of the National Drug Strategy for 2009-16, and further detailed in four-year action plans for 2009-12 and 2013-16. ... In 2014, public NSPs in Spain distributed approximately 1.5 million syringes, continuing a declining trend that started in 2005. This trend coincided with the scaling up of opioid substitution treatment (OST), which has been shown by the available evidence to have a positive outcome for treatment retention and reduction in illicit opioid use, reported risk behaviour and drug-related harms and mortality.

  --
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3