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Canadian province moves quickly to expand access to naloxone
British Columbia is setting the pace among Canadian provinces in opening access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone without a prescription.
Health Canada on March 22 revised the nation's federal prescription drug list to make a non-prescription version of naloxone more accessible to Canadian citizens. Within days of that action, the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia amended regulations for the province by reclassifying naloxone in order to make non-prescription medication available. Some major pharmacy chains in the U.S. now make naloxone available without a prescription.
“I encourage parents and friends of people who use drugs to visit their local pharmacist for training and include naloxone as part of their first aid kit,” Provincial Health Officer Perry Kendall said in a news release.
