Woman has saved over 110 ppl from Heroin overdose

[PedroDaGr8]

We all know what is going on right now across the eastern half of the USA with the Heroin addiction. Just like the meth epidemic before it, it is hitting the rural parts the hardest. It is a direct result of the crack down on prescription opiates, opiate withdrawals are the second worst withdrawal you can go through (after benzodiazepams, where the withdrawal can actually kill you). Anyways, getting to the point, previously in a thread about a year ago I mentioned Narcan (Naloxone). It is a drug that reverses opiate overdose by preferentially binding more strongly to the opioid receptors in the body (without activation). In a sense, it acts like a padlock on the receptors allowing the body to clear the opiate from the system. Because this drug does not activate the receptors, it poses no risk of addiction nor does it provide any sort of "high". In response to the heroin outbreak, fourteen states have now made this drug either OTC or given the power to prescribe to the pharmacist instead of a doctor.

How does this lady fit in? Tracey is a former heroin addict who has been clean since 1997. She has begun sending out Naloxone and clean needles to addicts in need in states where they can't get Naloxone. She first advises them to look for one of the 700 centers across the USA currently distributing it but if they live to far away from a center or from medical help (as many rural addicts do). She will send them naltroxone. While the article discusses 110, according to a thread on Reddit, she just had her confirmed 132 save. That is 132 people who were overdosing that a vial she sent revived from the dead. These are just the ones that report back to having used the naloxone either on a friend or someone else using it on them. She insists on using her real first name and the handle traceyh415 across every single platform as an means of accountability and as a means of showing the addicts that you CAN come back from the dark side. She now has a bachelors and masters degree, plus a certification in addiction support. She has a family and a good life. She said she wants to be a role model and give back to the addicts without hope, hoping that one day she can save some of them and give them the ABILITY to come back from addiction. Meaning, they are alive long enough to make that decision for themselves. She wants to give them hope that they can recover when they reach that point, in the mean time she wants to keep them alive.

She has been taking donations and said she and donations split the costs of the stuff she sends out 60/40 (though she didn't say which side was which). She said it took her 10 tries before she was able to actually kick the habbit for good, but she said she is even more lucky that she ever had that chance. She overdosed before and if I remember correctly, the doctors used naloxone on her. For her, this is giving back. Sending clean needles, encouraging needle exchanges, naloxone for overdose, etc.

https://medium.com/backchannel/the-h...t-a2fffcc2a25b

For me, it was a very interesting read.

[Darrell KSR]

I don't know the solution, but I'm too keenly aware of the problem. It strikes everyone.

God bless the lady and her work.

[PedroDaGr8]

I don't know the solution, but I'm too keenly aware of the problem. It strikes everyone.

God bless the lady and her work.

We do know that decriminalization and moving drug issues from a judicial issue to a health issue or hybrid judicial/health issue are helpful but are not cures. They do result in slightly lower addiction/use rates but more importantly, dramatically lower death rates and HIV infection rates. Much more so than taking a strict prohibitionist mindset. Beyond that, I'm not sure there even is a cure.

Also, before someone says that having this available will make opiate users more care-free. This medicine causes immediate precipitated acute withdrawal. Basically, it binds so well to opioid receptors that is strips every single opiate molecule from them. Causing the user to enter immediate and severe withdrawals. If you have seen heroin withdrawals, imagine even more severe and brought on IMMEDIATELY. No gradual decent into withdrawal, just boom and it is there. Unsurprisingly, it is VERY VERY miserable for the user.

Simple, harm reduction methods do not encourage use. The addicts will use no matter what, they just reduce the chance that they become permanently messed up from their horrible choices brought on by themselves. They lessen the risk of the worst issues, allowing the addict to survive until they can at least make it clean. For others, which are capable of being "functional" addicts, much like functional alcoholics, it lessens the risk of HIV, death, etc. These harm reduction tactics are needle exchanges. In this case, the benefit is two-fold. The first, clean needles means less chance of blood transmitted diseases like hepatitis, HIV, etc. The second is, the addict keeps track of their dirty needles, to get clean ones they have to turn the dirty ones in. This results in less dirty needles left around on the streets of the slums. The other is medicines like Narcan being easily available to save an addict from an overdose. A dead man can't kick the addiction, this gives them to chance to live another day until they are finally ready to kick it.

In Alabama, users, their family and others can carry Narcan legally. So if you know anyone who has a family member or friend who is an addict, encourage them to keep Narcan on them. It might save the addicts life.

Also, Kentucky is one of the states that allows pharmacists to dispense Narcan without a prescription. That changed in May of this year, I'm not sure if pharmacists have had enough time to put the proper protocols in place to do so yet.