Harm Reduction Cuts OD Deaths in San Francisco

November 4, 2005

Harm Reduction Cuts OD Deaths in San Francisco

Drug overdoses have increased statewide in California, but fewer addicts
are dying in San Francisco since the city adopted a harm-reduction
approach to overdose prevention, the Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 31.

Local health clinics are providing opiate addicts with classes on how to
use mouth-to-mouth to resuscitate an overdose victim; class participants
also get needles loaded with naloxone, a drug that can revive an opiate
addict who is overdosing.

"I'm glad they're showing us this stuff," said heroin addict Denise
Williams. "I don't want to just sit there if someone ends up in a bad
situation." Williams herself was saved from an overdose with a shot of
naloxone.

In California in 2003, 3,691 drug users died of overdoses, a 42-percent
increase from 1998 and up about 75 percent since 1990. But in San
Francisco, overdose deaths have fallen from 178 in 1998 to 144 in 2003,
and city officials predict that studies will show fewer than 100 deaths
annually since then.

Addicts themselves report saving 116 lives with naloxone since the program
began in 2003.

A city public-awareness campaign also urges addicts to always have a
partner nearby when they are using, since most overdose victims die alone.
A jail and treatment-center outreach program also educates users about the
risks of overdose and the benefits of naloxone.

City officials credit training the mainly middle-aged addicts to help
overdose victims for the decreased mortality. But some worry that the
harm-reduction effort takes the focus off the need for treatment and
recovery. "Addiction is a disease, and overdoses are simply a symptom of
the disease," said Dr. David Smith, medical director of the Haight Ashbury
Free Clinics. "We believe we should be focusing more on getting people
into treatment."

Dr. Josh Bamberger, medical director of the San Francisco Department of
Health's division of Housing and Urban Health, responded: "You can't get a
dead addict into treatment."

Similar programs -- with similar results -- have been started in cities
like Baltimore, Chicago, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. New York state
legalized distribution of naloxone this year.

http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C578549%2C00.html

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