New Orleans Opioid Plan

In 2017, the City of New Orleans released a community-based action plan in response to the opioid epidemic. This included:

• Issuing a standing order to pharmacists for naloxone to be available without a prescription
• Providing New Orleans EMS, Fire Department, and Police Department with naloxone to reverse an opioid overdose
• More options to safely get rid of unwanted prescription medicines
• Training pharmacists to better educate people about the risks of opioid use
• Quickly connecting opioid overdose survivors to treatment
• Creating a public information campaign

In addition, the City’s Opioid Survival Connection (OSC) program, funded by the Department of Justice, works with local agencies to connect overdose survivors to treatment. University Medical Center also provides the OSC program with referrals of patients who have not survived an overdose but are struggling with addiction. The OSC program’s harm reduction component provides community outreach and education, with public Bystander Response Trainings (including administering naloxone, CPR and AED use, and Stop the Bleed), pharmacist trainings, and the placement of Sharps Collection containers in areas with high levels of intravenous drug use.