More than 50 drug-related deaths could be avoided each year if users were supplied with a controversial overdose cure, it has been claimed.
Dr Mike Ryan, a GP in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area, said pilot studies overseas showed the merits of distributing naloxone - a drug which nullifies the effects of opiates - for immediate use in emergency overdose cases.
Studies in the UK indicated that overdose deaths could be cut by up to two-thirds if users had their own supply of the drug.
"That translates as 55 lives a year here," said Dr Ryan, who is part of a newly formed coalition of users' groups and doctors, the Dublin Opiate Overdose Reduction Strategy.
He noted that time was of the essence when dealing with overdose cases, the "vast majority of which take place at home, or in the company of others who could intervene".
Brain cells begin to deteriorate within two to three minutes of a cessation in breathing, and people who are resuscitated can suffer kidney failure or go into a coma.
Mr Tony Geoghegan of the Merchants Quay Project, Dublin, also supports the greater availability of naloxone, although he admits it would be a "quantum leap" for policy-makers to allow drug-users hold their own supplies.
A "first step" would be to allow paramedics administer the drug on site, as was the case in other jurisdictions, including Britain, rather than waiting for treatment by a doctor.
"That crucial time between the ambulance picking someone up and getting them to hospital could be the difference between life and death," said Mr Geoghegan, who added he had no doubt lives would be saved if paramedics were allowed to administer the drug.
Dr Ryan said the reason they were not allowed to do so was "turf battles" in the medical profession, and these should be put aside for the greater good of the patient.
"If paramedics were ever allowed to administer drugs the strongest case could be made for naloxone because it has no physiological side effects. It's a very safe medication," he said.
Further initiatives were needed to combat drug-related death, for which Dublin had one of the highest rates in Europe. An average of 83 people die through overdoses each year in the Republic, he said.
