The Electric Daisy Carnival, or EDC, is returning to Orlando this weekend at Tinker Field, but even though there is a zero-tolerance drug policy, one organization is trying to educate attendees on how to be prepared for overdoses.
Project Opioid aims to reduce overdose related deaths and distributes products across the state. Volunteers will be handing out the kits at the festival entrance.
Naloxone is a medicine used to reverse the effects of opioids on the human body. Each kit from Project Opioid contains two Naloxone nasal sprays and a QR code that links to a video tutorial of how to use the medicine. Find the video tutorial here.
The medication only works on opioids, so if someone who has not used opioids ingests Naloxone, there will be no harm. It is safe to keep in your home, office, in your purse or around children. It is available over the counter without a required prescription.
Even though EDC has a strict no drug policy, Project Opioid’s Michelle Klug said it's important to distribute resources in case people overdose. Klug lost her niece to an accidental overdose seven years ago.
“It's a helpful and sobering reminder to me that each one of these boxes that we put in a package, each one of these boxes that we are putting together to help educate; it's a life,” Klug said “For me, it makes it easier for me to comprehend the impact that we have when every time I package one of these kits, I think of this as a person.”
Over the past year, Project Opioid has distributed over 90,000 kits and done 112 training sessions. The organization hopes to distribute 5,000 Naloxone kits over the weekend.
“We do get reports on people who have actually had to use it on a friend,” Klug said. “We've had reports of people seeing it being used. Just last week, I got a phone call from an organization that we had given Naloxone to, and they said that they had a report of 18 overdose reversals. So, it does work. Our community needs it.”
The medicine in the kit is a nasal spray. Klug said to wait two minutes between each spray administered and then if someone isn’t responsive, use the second spray available in the kit.
“There are cases where people do need more than two and if it is needed, and you do wait those two minutes in between and the person is not responding, then we recommend doing chest compressions,” Klug said. “If you're comfortable doing CPR, do CPR, but at least chest compressions until 911 can arrive.”
Project Opioid partners with the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Orange County Drug Free Coalition, and other key community organizations to provide training and distribution of Naloxone.
