VANCOUVER — When a teenage girl collapsed on the SkyTrain in Coquitlam, B.C., passengers calling 911 thought she had fainted or was having an epileptic seizure.
It was only when paramedics administered naloxone that some realized she'd overdosed on an opioid, said Chloe Goodison, who was sitting beside her.
They say it is a matter of urgency in a province that has suffered more than 10,000 deaths since it declared the toxic drug supply to be a public health emergency in April 2016. Since its launch last year, NaloxHome has recruited 30 volunteers and given presentations to about 2,000 students at high schools in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody through an arrangement with the school district, Goodison said.
That includes not using drugs alone and how to administer naloxone, which is available for free at pharmacies and some health-care facilities in B.C. The Education Ministry said it's up to each school district to determine the delivery of any programs, including whether to stock naloxone kits or train teachers how to use them.
But Amanda Farrell-Low, a spokeswoman at the University of Victoria's Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, which developed iMinds, said the information does not include anything about the risks related to drug use. Instead, it includes downloadable modules on gambling.
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