St. John Ambulance has announced expansion of its Opioid Poisoning Response Training Program, building on the initiative which was first launched in December 2019.

Entitled “Time to React,” the national program is designed to combat the acknowledged crisis of often fatal overdoses linked to opioid addiction.

$5 million will be provided by Health Canada for the next year for training and nasal Naloxone kits, with a goal to distribute 30,000 free kits to communities and organizations who need them the most — news that was well received by mayors and councilors from St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise and Harbour Grace, who were were on hand for the announcement.

The training will focus on stigma surrounding drug use, harm reduction, recognizing the signs of opioid poisoning, using nasal Naloxone, how to deal with the emergency, and care after the fact.