A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that nearly one-third of U.S. adults know someone who has died from a drug overdose. To combat this crisis, the University of Maine’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) partnered with Needlepoint Sanctuary on Feb. 27 to offer an overdose prevention training program to staff, faculty and student employees. The goal was to reduce the number of opioid overdose-related deaths on campus and to educate attendees on a “compassion-based overdose response.” Participants were taught how to handle an overdose situation and were supplied with naloxone, more commonly marketed as Narcan.
In total, 17 people attended the training. Speaker and Executive Director of Needlepoint Sanctuary Willie Hurley began by offering a brief history of the organization which started as an underground operation dedicated to helping active drug users and preventing overdoses. The organization’s dormouse mascot was chosen as a reference to their “meek” nature, Hurley shared. He added that it was also because mice can be disruptive and Needlepoint Sanctuary disrupts the current system for handling drug-related activity by showing compassion to people affected by drug use.
“The people we are serving are awfully powerless,” Hurley said.
Next, he moved on to identifying the difference between opioids and opiates; the former are synthetic drugs and the latter are directly derived from the Opium Poppy, though the family of drugs is simply referred to as opioids. Opioids include substances like heroin, fentanyl, Vicodin, oxycodone, Percocet, codeine, OxyContin and morphine. Hurley explained that opioids create a sense of “ease, comfort and euphoria,” hence their desirability.
Hurley cited the source of the current opioid epidemic as being the prohibition of drugs as well as pharmaceutical companies overprescribing opioids and then intentionally catering to addicts to boost their revenue. An article written by the Harvard School of Public Health confirms his claim. Hurley also explained that the decline in accessibility to healthcare and social services exacerbates mental health conditions, which may push some people to use drugs in an attempt to “fix” it.
“There are some people who are at the most risk for an overdose, and in some weird ways, some who are at the least,” Hurley said.
The next segment in the training program covered the specifics of recognizing an opioid overdose. People experiencing an overdose are unresponsive to touch, sound, stimulation and may not be breathing. There is an important distinction between an overdose and “nodding out,” which occurs when a person reaches an elevated high and becomes sleepy, but is still responsive; in this case, the person does not require revival.
In the event of an overdose, the suffering individual’s airway should be checked and cleared, they should be placed into the recovery position, rescue breathing should be provided and then naloxone should be administered either through an intramuscular injection or via the nostrils. Once the person is revived, they may experience precipitated withdrawal, which occurs when an opioid high is suddenly interrupted, causing withdrawal symptoms. This may cause the person to become aggressive.
Post-overdose experiences often include a feeling of being scatterbrained, a sense of confusion and a fight-or-flight response. It is important to comfort the person who experienced the overdose once they come to.
In general, paramedics should be notified after the first dose of naloxone to ensure the safety of the person experiencing an overdose. Police officials tend to take drug use very seriously, but the Good Samaritan Law does exist as a protection for both the person experiencing an overdose and the person administering aid. This prevents both individuals from being arrested for nonviolent drug-related crimes.
At UMaine, the most common instances of drug use appear to be related to marijuana, with very few documented overdose incidents overall. However, students are occasionally caught with other substances or paraphernalia, such as an incident that occurred on Feb. 1 involving two residents of Knox Hall and another incident on Sept. 20 involving the discovery of a hypodermic needle outside Hotel Ursa.
Free Narcan is available through the Needlepoint Sanctuary, who will host another overdose prevention training session open to the public later in the month. UMaine also offers the Community First Responder Program to educate Mainers on the signs of an opioid overdose and the steps to revive the person experiencing it.
In the event of an emergency, contact the University Volunteer Ambulance Corps (UVAC) by dialing 911 and letting the operator know you are at UMaine.