Take Home Naloxone: Best practice in preventing fatal opioid overdoses for prison leavers

Every year, Forward empowers over 10,000 prisoners with drug and alcohol problems to break the cycle of crime and addiction and to achieve transformational change – from initial advice, harm minimisation and clinical treatment, to intensive programmes that instil and sustain recovery, and access to networks of support upon release to the community.

Drug-related deaths in England and Wales are at record levels: 3,756 deaths in 2017/18, of which 53% involved an opioid (e.g. heroin) overdose. Death rates among prisoners (especially those on post-release supervision) are many times higher than in the general population. There were 955 deaths of offenders in the community in England and Wales in 2017/18. The few weeks immediately after release from prison is a particularly high-risk period for drug-related death.

In response to these findings, and as part of our commitment to continually improve services and to deliver the best care possible, Forward have instigated a highly-targeted initiative to increase the number of service users being released from prison with Take Home Naloxone (THN), a drug that can save lives by reversing the reduced breathing rate caused by an opioid overdose.