‘Mind-boggling’: Victorian outreach workers decry double standard for lifesaving overdose drug naloxone

Naloxone is available for free and the Victorian government has announced it will trial vending machines for the drug, but trained providers are subject to different rules over its use. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Richie Goonan knows that when faced with a drug overdose, every second counts.

But Goonan, who leads the community health team at the non-profit Youth Projects, says his frontline workers are hampered by a legal risk that slows them down when responding to an overdose.