Health officials call for more access to heroin antidotes

Posted on October 16, 2015

Naxolone is a heroin antidote. (Photo by PunchingJudy/flickr)

By Dave Dahl/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Deaths by drug overdose have more than doubled in the US since 1999, with heroin a cheap, easy-to-obtain culprit.

Saying “ten dollars can get you high,” recovering addict Rachel King was part of a panel discussion in Springfield. “I lost the luxury of having a choice. Once you take that first drink or drug, the obsession and the cravings start.”

King’s mother found her passed out on the floor a year and a half ago and was able to get her an antidote drug, followed by residential and then outpatient treatment. She now helps others in need at a Springfield center.

King sat next to her father, David King, who is executive director of the Piatt County Mental Health Center. He credits faith for his family’s perseverance.

The event was meant to call attention to the need for more access to naloxone and Narcan, both heroin antidotes.

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