Toronto high school students will be taught how to administer naloxone soon
High school students across Canada will soon be trained on how to respond to someone experiencing an opioid overdose.
Students will learn how to inject naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of fentanyl and heroin overdoses.
The Advanced Coronary Treatment Foundation (ACT) announced today that its program will be added to the CPR training it offers for free to Canadian high school students.
The landscape of emergency response is changing in Canada due to increases #opioidoverdoses. ACT is launching the NEW Opioids Overdose Response Training as an enhancement to its CPR/AED Prog, FREE for high schools. #SavingLives https://t.co/IPuqQJ8NDQ@GovCanHealth @CCSACanada pic.twitter.com/HJfPxAFl5S
— ACT Foundation (@actfoundation) June 14, 2022
Students will have the opportunity to learn about opioids, when to call 911, and when to administer naloxone, a life-saving medication.
The training is set to begin first in Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, and B.C. before being introduced to the rest of the provinces.
Many people had some interesting reactions to the recent news on Twitter.
One person asked if high school students can just stick to traditional subjects.
Can we just stick to reading and writing.
— fred5oh (@fred5oh) June 14, 2022
Another wondered if the training actually does more harm than good.
Is this the right path or are we enabling drug culture?
— redrover (@redrove60906229) June 14, 2022
Some are defending the training, saying the more safety education, the better.
People will do drugs regardless so why not bring more education to safety?
— OFF ROUTE (@onlinepresent) June 14, 2022
And not everyone was a big fan of the new announcement.
This is literally the worst idea I've ever heard.
— Barb Bierman (@BarbaraBierman) June 14, 2022
Some urged that they would've appreciated the training in their high school days.
This is great. In my highschool days, I ended up in some sketchy situations. Not everyone will need to use it but to have the training is 👌
— loner 🧍🏻♀️ (@c_lphillips) June 14, 2022
The Public Health Agency of Canada reported more than 5,000 deaths related to opioids between January and September 2021, 94 per cent of which were accidental.
According to Toronto Public Health, opioid-related deaths in Toronto have increased 74 per cent since 2019 and 175 per cent since 2016, respectively.
The training was developed after a successful pilot project in Ottawa, with nearly 200 students in 2019.
