Take Home Naloxone Program

Naloxone is one of the few genuinely life-saving medicines an ordinary person can keep at home. It can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, buying crucial minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Through Australia’s Take Home Naloxone program, you can get it free from participating pharmacies, without a prescription, and you do not have to prove anything about yourself to do so.

What is naloxone, and what does it do?

Naloxone is a medicine that blocks the effects of opioids for a short time and can help restore breathing during an overdose. It works against a wide range of opioids, including prescription painkillers like oxycodone, morphine, codeine, and tramadol, as well as heroin and fentanyl. That breadth matters: people overdose on legitimately prescribed medicines, not just illicit drugs. It comes as a nasal spray and as a pre-filled injection, and it is designed so that a member of the public can use it in an emergency.

What is the Take Home Naloxone program?

It is an Australian Government program that provides naloxone free of charge from participating sites, including many community pharmacies, to people who may experience or witness an opioid overdose. You do not need a prescription, and you do not need to prove that you personally use opioids. Family members, carers, friends, and anyone who spends time around opioids can get it. The whole point is to put this life-saving medicine into as many hands as possible.

Who should get it?

Consider keeping naloxone nearby if you, or someone close to you, takes strong prescribed opioids, uses opioids alongside alcohol, sedatives, or benzodiazepines (which increases overdose risk), uses non-prescribed opioids, or is being released from hospital or another setting after a period of reduced tolerance. It is also worth having if you work or volunteer somewhere you might witness an overdose. Think of it like a fire extinguisher: something you hope never to need but are glad to have.

How to recognise an opioid overdose

Signs include being unresponsive or unable to be woken, slow or stopped breathing, snoring or gurgling, blue or grey lips and fingertips, and very small pupils. If you are not sure whether it is an overdose, it is safer to act.

What to do in an overdose

Naloxone does not replace emergency care; it works alongside it.

1. Call Triple Zero (000) immediately.
2. Give naloxone as instructed (nasal spray into the nostril, or injection per the device instructions).
3. Follow the operator’s directions, which may include rescue breaths or CPR.
4. Stay with the person. Naloxone can wear off before the opioid does, so they can slip back into overdose; be ready to give a second dose if they do not respond or relapse.

How it works at the pharmacy

Ask at the counter for Take Home Naloxone. The pharmacist may take you somewhere private, ask whether you know how to use it, and give a quick demonstration on a trainer device. It should be free through the program at participating sites. There is nothing to be embarrassed about; pharmacists supply it precisely because the program wants it everywhere.

How it’s regulated in Australia

The Take Home Naloxone program is funded by the Australian Government and delivered through participating pharmacies and health services across the country, with naloxone available without a prescription under the program. Pharmacists supplying it are registered with the Pharmacy Board of Australia. For confidential support about opioid use, the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline (1800 250 015) can help.

Official sources

• Australian Government: Take Home Naloxone program
• Healthdirect: naloxone

Naloxone buys time, and time saves lives. Use the button below to find a pharmacy offering free Take Home Naloxone near you, and keep it where others can find it.