Students and staff at IUPUI learn how to use drugs to stop overdoses

Indianapolis, Indiana – Macenzie Cochran, a second-year nursing student at IUPUI, learned how to use the nasal spray Narcan.

“It seems very easy, you just put it up to their nose and squeeze it,” she said.

Naloxone, a substance in Narcan, can undo the effects of an overdose. The majority of overdoses happen after using a medication that has been laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

On Tuesday, the IUPUI School of Nursing hosted a Naloxone training for roughly twenty students and staff members from the organization Overdose Lifeline.

“Individuals are finding fentanyl in drugs they don’t expect to overdose on, like cocaine, Xanax, and Adderall, so it’s dangerous,” Overdose Lifeline Executive Director, Justin Phillips, said.

Nick Payton, an IUPUI nursing student, has observed teenagers arriving at Indiana University Riley Hospital for Children suffering from the effects of an overdose.

“This stuff is vital. We are taught all the time to learn CPR, but I feel like this with the overdoses, especially with fentanyl, being able to use Narcan can save lives just like that,” Payton said.

According to Overdose Lifeline, 4,500 individual Naloxone doses are given out each week. According to the organization, it offers training courses for individuals, corporations, and schools on how to deliver the doses.