In line with its mandate of public protection, the College is pleased to announce that on December 7, 2020, Council approved an amendment to the Pharmaceutical Regulation to add subsection 84(5) that will help increase public access to naloxone indicated for emergency use during opioid overdose.
This amendment, effective immediately, excludes naloxone products packaged for use in opioid overdose from the conditions for sale of Schedule 2 products, thereby permitting them to be sold:
- from any location or shelf in the pharmacy;
- without the involvement of a licensed pharmacist in the sale of the product; and
- without the requirement for the pharmacist to counsel individuals on the proper use and administration of the product in an opioid emergency; however, the pharmacist would be available to provide counselling on proper use and administration if requested.
The Naloxone category of the College Resource Library provides additional patient and pharmacy professional resources on naloxone:
https://cphm.ca/resource-library/?_sft_resource_category=naloxone
For information on the Take-Home Naloxone Distribution Program that provides patients and the public access to free naloxone across Manitoba, please visit: https://streetconnections.ca//content.php?navigation_id=2294.
For information on how to register as a naloxone distribution site, please visit: https://www.gov.mb.ca/health/mh/overdose/providers.html.
To review the Minister’s announcement of the regulation change, please visit https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=50064&posted=2020-12-15