On the Tuesday after the Easter long weekend, peer support worker Bec arrived at the Penrith needle and syringe exchange to see an unusual sight.They were there to get take-home naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose.
Within days, peer support workers from the NSW Users and AIDS Association were on the streets of Penrith delivering extra doses of take-home naloxone to drug users and training them on how to administer it. The class of synthetic opioids were first developed by pharmaceutical companies looking for alternatives to morphine in the 1950s, but were abandoned because they were too potent.
NSW Ambulance Senior Assistant Commissioner Clare Beech says the service has seen an anecdotal increase in call outs for overdoses in some areas."They might be finding that the drugs that they're using are much stronger than they expected, or they were expected to have a certain reaction and in fact they might be having the opposite effect.
"Even if you're thinking you're just only ever going to do a pill or a couple of lines of cocaine, you really need to be aware that this might be coming at you in the future. "Criminal organisations stop at nothing to reap benefits and make money out of the misery of people and communities. They are seeing nitazenes purely as a cheap alternative.