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Baltimore gets donation of naloxone injectors to fight opioid addiction

20,000 residents trained to use naloxone
Posted at 11:30 AM, Feb 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-03 11:30:54-05
Baltimore City has received a donation of about 5,000 naloxone auto injectors from pharmaceutical company Kaléo.
 
The donation was announced at a public naloxone training and community celebration at Helping Up Mission, an organization that provides recovery services for men in Baltimore. 
 
 
A total of 20,000 Baltimore residents have been trained to used naloxone-- a drug that can prevent opioid overdoses--in the last two years, the city's health commissioner said. 
 
Naloxone has been used by residents to save more than 800 lives, city Health Commissioner Leana Wen said. 
 
The city had 481 fatal overdoses from January through September 2016, compared with 393 overdose deaths in 2015.
 
In October 2015, Baltimore City became the first jurisdiction in Maryland to issue a "standing order" for naloxone, a blanket prescription enabling Wen to prescribe naloxone for all city residents. 
 

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