The responsibility of EMS and all healthcare providers is to deliver the best care possible to our patients, and in the setting of respiratory failure from an overdose, restoring the patient’s ventilation via the antidote naloxone is the definitive management, whereas BVM ventilation is not. Also, naloxone distribution, when deployed to the community, has been shown to be safe, life-saving and cost effective.

The mission of EMS is to provide the best quality, evidence-based care to all patients in all settings. We cannot let theoretical concerns about unfounded myths influence practice; human lives depend on it. After almost half a century, naloxone remains the definitive EMS therapy to treat respiratory failure in opioid overdose.

https://www.ems1.com/naloxone/articles/when-myths-are-more-dangerous-than-reality-wD9Vqg95jP54YS8y/