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Heroin use continues to drive opioid-related overdoses and mortality globally (Degenhardt & Hall, 2012). Not-as-prescribed use of prescription opioids increases the number of victims of this epidemic (Logan, Liu, Paulozzi, Zhang, & Jones, 2013). Naloxone has been shown to reduce mortality in overdose among people who use heroin and other opioids; however, its administration in a number of countries, including Ireland, is limited to paramedics and health professionals (Bury, 2015), despite proven effectiveness of overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programmes by trained lay-people worldwide (McAuley, Aucott, & Matheson, 2015). The effectiveness of these programmes has been demonstrated around outcomes such as knowledge, skills, attitudes and reduced overdose deaths (Coffin & Sullivan, 2013), and involved groups including social workers and needle-exchange staff as well as family and friends of people who use opioids (Walley et al., 2013). While recent ...
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