Students, teachers across Canada to be offered training on administering naloxone to combat overdoses

An organization that works with schools across Canada to create CPR and defibrillator training programs is now looking to offer naloxone training programs for teachers and high school students.

The program will teach secondary school students about opioids, how to recognize a suspected overdose and how to administer nasal naloxone spray. 

Naloxone is a drug that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation has already completed a pilot project at schools in Ottawa.

"The students responded so positively," said ACT's executive director Sandra Clarke, who sat in on the lessons. "The majority of students thought that this was important training for them. They thought this was relevant to them."

Between January and September of last year, at least 5,368 Canadians died from "apparent opioid toxicity," which is how the Public Health Agency of Canada classifies substance use deaths involving an opioid.

The number of deaths has soared over the pandemic, as people experienced increased isolation, stress and struggles, and as street drugs became increasingly noxious.

Young Canadians between 18 and 24 are the fastest-growing population requiring hospital care because of a suspected opioid overdose, according to ACT.

"It's happening to their friends or their loved ones — not intentionally, but accidentally," said ACT's national medical director, Dr. Michael Austin.

"I think it's really, really important that this population not only has those tools and the skills to be able to respond, but the cultural change just to act."

A free course will be offered to school boards across Canada that will train teachers, who will then train students, in a combination of online and in-class lessons. 

ACT has provided its CPR and defibrillator training programs in more than 1,800 high schools across Canada, and said the opioid overdose program will be an "enhancement." 

The program is partially funded through Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program.

Clarke said ACT is working with school boards across the country to start offering training programs for teachers. She believes teachers could then begin training students by fall.