PRESCRIPTIONS GIVEN TO FIGHT OVERDOSES

PHILADELPHIA - In the wake of more than 400 deaths nationwide from
heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl, some needle exchange
programs are giving addicts prescriptions for a drug to keep on hand
to halt an overdose.

The antidote - naloxone, which is sold under the brand name Narcan -
can save the life of someone who might not call 9-1-1 for fear of
prosecution, treatment providers say.

Even if a user does call, help can arrive too late.

"If people have to rely on paramedics, more often than not, the
overdose is going to be fatal, just because of the amount of time for
people to get there," said Casey Cook, executive director of
Prevention Point Philadelphia, a nonprofit that runs the city's
needle exchange program. The group recently began distributing
naloxone prescriptions through a physician.

Others say naloxone is best administered by trained paramedics and
that the prescription approach might appear to condone drug use.