What is naloxone?
Naloxone is a life-saving medication that can reverse an overdose from opioids—including heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioid medications—when given in time.1
There are two forms of naloxone that anyone can use without medical training or authorization:
- Nasal spray: Prefilled devices that spray naloxone into the nose.
- Injectable: Medication given by injection into a muscle or under the skin.
Is naloxone harmful?
Naloxone won’t harm someone if they’re overdosing on opioids or other drugs, so it’s always best to use it if you think someone is overdosing.
Does naloxone have side effects?
Naloxone can (but does not always) cause withdrawal symptoms or unpleasant physical reactions, in people who are physically dependent on opioids. Withdrawal symptoms may include fever, anxiety, irritability, rapid heart rate, sweating, nausea, vomiting, and tremors.
Is naloxone addictive?
No, a tolerance cannot be developed with naloxone. It will only reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Why is Aurora Fire Rescue distributing leave-behind Narcan kits?
The use of leave-behind Narcan kits stocked with naloxone has proven to decrease patient mortality and morbidity in communities across the United States by reducing “down-time” in overdose patients, decreasing rates of hospitalization, and limiting long-term complications associated with anoxic brain injury.
Leave-behind Narcan kits:
- Provide immediate access to life-saving medication for those at risk;
- Empowers individuals and communities to respond effectively to overdoses;
- Reduces the stigma associated with opioid use and promotes harm reduction strategies; and is anticipated to lead to
- Decreased repeat call volume for first responders.
The Leave-Behind Narcan Program is designed to reduce fatal opioid overdoses by equipping first responders with naloxone kits to leave directly with individuals who have experienced or witnessed an overdose.
This program allows for immediate, on-scene distribution of life-saving medication, even if the patient refuses transport to a hospital.
AFR encourages all patients to seek further evaluation and treatment at a hospital emergency department. If the patient refuses transport after being advised the associated risks of refusing, AFR will offer the leave-behind Narcan kit.
Leave-behind naloxone is offered any time a patient is identified as at risk for an opioid overdose, regardless of the transport disposition. Patients may leave the hospital before receiving Narcan; therefore, providing a kit ensures access and supports overdose prevention efforts.
Do leave-behind Narcan kits enable opioid use?
Narcan does not encourage drug use. Research shows that people who have had at least one opioid overdose are more likely to have another. Adults treated for opioid overdose frequently have repeated opioid overdoses in the following year. They are also at high risk of fatal opioid overdose throughout this period. (Source)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends expended access to naloxone as a prevention strategy to support the health and wellbeing of communities. While drug overdoses remain a public health crisis, drug overdose death rates have leveled off and then declined from 2022 to 2023, in part due to the widespread distribution of naloxone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A March 2025 study by the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases reported a 98% survival rate among people who use drugs when supported by overdose education and naloxone distribution program. (Source)
How much is the fire department paying for these kits?
Aurora Fire Rescue receives the kits under a grant through the Naloxone Bulk Purchase Fund, established in 2019.