Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec 23:2:100021.
doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2021.100021. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Impact of an overdose reversal program in the context of a safe consumption site in Northern Mexico

David Goodman-Meza  1 , Said Slim  2 , Lourdes Angulo  2 , Pablo Gonzalez-Nieto  2 , Mary C Cambou  1 , Alejandra Loera  3 , Steve Shoptaw  4 , Jaime Arredondo  2   3
Affiliations

Impact of an overdose reversal program in the context of a safe consumption site in Northern Mexico

David Goodman-Meza et al. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Drug overdoses are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries but are scarcely reported in the literature. We report on an opioid overdose reversal and naloxone distribution program that was instituted at the first safe consumption site in Latin America.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of witnessed drug overdoses and naloxone distribution between 1 June 2019 and 31 May 2021 in Mexicali, Mexico. Case report forms were entered in an electronic database. Trends in overdose and naloxone distribution were described. Comparisons were made before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in the city. Maps were created to represent the geographic distribution of overdose in the city.

Results: During the study period 1,534 doses of naloxone were distributed throughout the community. In addition, there were 464 overdoses reported during this period, of which 4 were fatal. There was a 30% increase in reported overdoses from the period before the COVID-19 pandemic to the period after the pandemic was declared (p = 0.03). Most common substance reported included heroin (93%), sedatives (21%), methamphetamine (16%) and fentanyl (14%). Naloxone was given in 96% of cases (median 1 dose, IQR 1-2 doses) and emergency services were called in 20% of cases.

Conclusions: An opioid overdose reversal program in Mexicali, Mexico was able to distribute naloxone and register drug overdoses between 2019 and 2021 as a harm reduction strategy. This adds to the growing body of literature on the impact of community-based programs on preventing fatal overdoses and the potential for implementation in low-resource settings.

Keywords: LMIC; Latin America; Mexico; Naloxone; Overdose; Prevention; Safe consumption site.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overdose reported and naloxone distributed in Mexicali, Mexico between 1 June 2019 and 31 May 2021. A) Overdoses over time. B) Naloxone distributed. C) Geographic distribution of overdoses. Verter is the location of the safe consumption site in Mexicali, Mexico.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agren D. Verter: helping drug users near the USA-Mexico border. Lancet HIV. 2019;6(8):e495. - PubMed
    1. Andersson L., Håkansson A., Berge J., Johnson B. Changes in opioid-related deaths following increased access to opioid substitution treatment. Subst. Abuse Treat. Prev. Policy. 2021;16(1):15. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arredondo J., Gaines T., Manian S., Vilalta C., Bañuelos A., Strathdee S.A., Beletsky L. The law on the streets: evaluating the impact of Mexico’s drug decriminalization reform on drug possession arrests in Tijuana, Mexico. Int. J. Drug Policy. 2018;54:1–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arredondo J., Strathdee S.A., Cepeda J., Abramovitz D., Artamonova I., Clairgue E., Bustamante E., Mittal M.L., Rocha T., Bañuelos A., Olivarria H.O., Morales M., Rangel G., Magis C., Beletsky L. Measuring improvement in knowledge of drug policy reforms following a police education program in Tijuana, Mexico. Harm. Reduct. J. 2017;14(1):72. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beletsky L., Baker P., Arredondo J., Emuka A., Goodman-Meza D., Medina-Mora M.E., Werb D., Davidson P., Amon J.J., Strathdee S., Magis-Rodriguez C. The global health and equity imperative for safe consumption facilities. Lancet. 2018;392(10147):553–554. - PubMed