NALOXONE AVAILABILITY

That this House notes that there were 765 deaths involving heroin or morphine in 2013, a sharp rise of 32 per cent from 579 deaths in 2012; further notes that many of these fatalities could have been prevented by the use of naloxone as an intervention; recognises that naloxone is a safe and effective medicine which can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses; recalls that in May 2012 the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recommended that naloxone should be made more widely available; is concerned that regulations to give effect to the ACMD recommendations in England are not planned to be implemented until October 2015; further notes that in Scotland and Wales successful pilots have resulted in national programmes to make naloxone widely available but there has been no such development in England; and calls on the Government to prioritise the roll-out of naloxone across the whole of the UK.