Australian demand for overdose drug naloxone more than doubles after spike in synthetic opioid deaths

Naloxone, a medication that can restore breathing after an opiod overdose, has seen an major increase in orders over the last year. Photograph: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images

Demand for a life-saving opioid overdose drug has doubled in one year as a “whole new cohort” of stimulant and hallucinogenic users, fearful of taking lethally laced narcotics, have rushed to get the medication.

Prior to a recent spike in overdose deaths, regular users of illicit opioids were the predominant users of naloxone, which can rapidly reverse an overdose.