OD : Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose
English | 2020 | ISBN: 0262043661 | 425 Pages | ePUB | 32 MB

The history of an unnatural disaster�drug overdose�and the emergence of naloxone as a social and technological solution.

For years, drug overdose was unmentionable in polite society. OD was understood to be something that took place in dark alleys�an ugly death awaiting social deviants�neither scientifically nor clinically interesting. But over the last several years, overdose prevention has become the unlikely object of a social movement, powered by the miracle drug naloxone. In OD, Nancy Campbell charts the emergence of naloxone as a technological fix for overdose and describes the remaking of overdose into an experience recognized as common, predictable, patterned�and, above all, preventable. Naloxone, which made resuscitation, rescue, and �reversal� after an overdose possible, became a tool for shifting law, policy, clinical medicine, and science toward harm reduction. Liberated from emergency room protocols and distributed in take-home kits to non-medical professionals, it also became a tool of empowerment.