The prescription of the potentially life-saving drug naloxone on discharge from prison is currently under consideration by health officials.
The drug can be administered if a person undergoing detoxification from opioids suffers an overdose.
A national pilot is now being developed, Dr Des Crowley, Dublin-based prison doctor at Mountjoy Prison and HSE Dublin North East GP coordinator of Addiction Services, told IMN.
The measure is being progressed by the Department of Health, HSE and Irish Prison Service as part of efforts to minimise deaths from overdose.
“We’re looking at how that can be rolled out within a prison setting, because it’s different in a prison setting compared to the community,” Dr Crowley said.
“This would be for people who are detoxing coming out of prison, not for people on methadone as they’d be linked up with the clinic so their chance of overdosing would be low.”
Those who are detoxing in prison and relapse into opioid use on release have a high risk of overdosing, especially during the first two to four weeks of release, Dr Crowley said.
Source: Niamh Cahill, irishmedicalnews.ie, 30/08/2013
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