OD patients given medicine at Vancouver ER as part of unique program

A Vancouver emergency department has become the first in Canada to give overdose patients take-away packs of medication aimed at warding off withdrawal symptoms and getting them into treatment.
Dr. Andrew Kestler, a co-lead of the program at St. Paul’s Hospital, says patients get a three-day supply of Suboxone and easy-to-understand instructions from a nurse.
He says the idea is to prevent barriers to treatment because many patients are not able to even get a prescription filled at a pharm