The city of Portland will hold a free training session Thursday to educate people about what to do when someone is experiencing a drug overdose.

The Overdose Recognition and Response training will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the State of Maine room at Portland City Hall.

Attendees will learn the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to respond, including how to administer naloxone, which can reverse an overdose.

The city said in a news release that other resources, including prescriptions for naloxone, will be available. The training is being hosted by the city’s Public Health Division.

For more information on the training session, contact Bridget Rauscher at bridget.rauscher@portlandmaine.gov or 874-8798.

A total of 378 Mainers died from drug overdoses last year, a new record driven almost entirely by opioids – prescription painkillers, heroin and now fentanyl. Portland rescue personnel used naloxone to save five overdose victims during the first weekend of April.


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