Diane Tippett objected to bars, nightclubs and other locations being provided with naloxone spray, an emergency antidote to a fentanyl overdose (“Don’t require bars to carry naxolone,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 11).
She said, “If you choose to overdose with fentanyl and die, it is your choice and the outcome is your fate.” And are we not to provide help when available?
I daresay few addicts “choose to overdose and die.” These victims chose to dose, not to overdose. But the potency of fentanyl-laced street pills of all sorts is completely unknowable, which has led to 70,000 recent U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths. Recently our 22-year-old neighbor died within hours of taking a street back-pain pill.
Rather than moralize, we provide addicts with the safety of clean needles and syringes. Naloxone is in the same class as first-aid kits and AEDs (defibrillators), providing a valuable emergency life-saving opportunity. Why not make it available?
John M. Corboy, M.D.
Mililani
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