Naloxone distribution amidst shifting drug use patterns: Insights from a needs-based syringe services program

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine
• Harm Reduction

Background:

• Rising overdose deaths nationally highlight the need to address substance use, including smoking opioids and stimulants.
• Syringe services programs (SSPs) are crucial in providing harm reduction services.
• Understanding service delivery patterns is key to optimizing overdose prevention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate naloxone distribution within a needs-based SSP in Southern California.
• To assess the association between types of harm reduction supplies distributed and naloxone inclusion.
• To examine the relationship between supplies and overdose response rates.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of service delivery data from January-June 2024.
• Examined distribution of pipes, syringes, and naloxone.
• Used modified Poisson and negative binomial regression to analyze encounters and overdose responses.

Main Results:

• Of 1260 encounters, 50% involved pipes only, 33% pipes/syringes, 11% syringes only, and 7% neither.
• Nearly half (44%) of all encounters included naloxone.
• Pipe-only encounters were less likely to include naloxone compared to syringe-only, combined, or neither supply encounters.

Conclusions:

• Encounters distributing pipes for smoking were less likely to include naloxone.
• Specific strategies are required to enhance naloxone uptake in populations shifting to smoking unregulated substances.
• This study underscores the need for tailored harm reduction approaches to combat rising overdose deaths.