Find the right drug or alcohol abuse treatment program with the
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator

For 24 hour / seven days per week information and referral,
call 1-800-LIFENET.

Know Your Risk

• If you are taking drugs, try to be with other people. If you're alone and something goes wrong, no one can help.
• Know your limits. If your body has been drug-free for awhile and then you take drugs, you are more likely to overdose. Take less than usual..
• Don't mix drugs. You're more likely to overdose if you combine an opioid, like a painkiller or heroin, with alcohol, cocaine, benzos, or other drugs..

Facts About Drug Overdose

• Opioid overdoses are preventable.
• Most drug overdoses involve opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers.
• Prescription painkillers-such as oxycodone are a growing cause of drug overdoses.
• Naloxone, or Narcan, is a medication that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. It became legal to carry naloxone in New York State in 2006.
• Even though most people think that overdoses are immediate, most overdoses occur 1 to 3 hours after the drug us taken. Only about 1 in 8 ODs happen immediately after the drug us taken.
• Most drug overdose deaths in New York City happen at home.
• Most drug overdoses are witnessed, meaning that someone else can call for help

What to Do in Case of an Overdose

• Call 911.
• If the person is not breathing, do rescue breathing (mouth-to-mouth). Tilt the person's head back, pinch their nose, and give two quick breaths. Continue with one breath every five seconds. If you know CPR, give CPR instead of rescue breathing: 1 breath and 30 compressions every minute.
• Give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it. Spray half a dose of nasal naloxone into each nostril, or shoot injectable naloxone into the upper arm or thigh.
• Wait 3 to 5 minutes for the person to respond. Continue rescue breathing (or CPR if you are trained). If the person does not respond after 3-5 minutes, give a 2nd dose of naloxone.
• Lay the person on their side in the rescue position, so they do not choke if they vomit.
  Wait for help to arrive.

More Resources

• To get help and support to stop using, call 1-800-LIFENET (800-543-3638) or 311 in New York City.



• Find out where to get an overdose rescue kit with naloxone, call 311— ask for “overdose prevention.”



• To order a 12-minute overdose prevention DVD, call 311.



• Syringe Exchange Program schedule



• Help to Stop Using  Other languages: [Español][中文]
  
  
• Prescription Drugs: When Does Use Become Misuse? Other languages: [Español][中文]
  
  
• Is Your Child Abusing Prescription Drugs? Other languages: [Español][中文]
  
  
• Take Care, Take Charge: 10 Tips for Safer Use

External Resources

• NYS Department of Health: Opioid Overdose Prevention
• NYS Department of Health: Fact sheet on preventing opioid overdose
• NYS Department of Health: Directory of Registered Opioid Overdose Prevention programs 

Last Updated: April 11, 2013