Free take home Naloxone kits available at over 70 pharmacies across Sask.

A take-home kit with an antidote to opioids such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, methadone or oxycodone is shown here. The kit contains naloxone. (Saskatchewan Ministry of Health)

Take home Naloxone kits are now available at 225 locations across Saskatchewan including at 71 pharmacies in 76 different communities.

Naloxone is a medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and allow time for medical help to arrive.

“The loss of any life to overdose is a tragedy,” Everett Hindley, Mental Health and Addictions Minister said. “These are our friends, our family members and our neighbours.”

More than 29,000 take home Naloxone kits have been distributed, with more than 6,800 confirmed to have been used since the Take Home Naloxone Program started in 2015. Naloxone can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, providing the time for medical help to arrive.

In addition to the free Naloxone kits, free training is also available at the pharmacies.

In Regina alone, the Regina Police Service reported 160 apparent overdose deaths in 2021, a 40 per cent spike from 2020.

Click here for more information on the kits and where they are available.