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Heroin overdoses and overdose fatalities are steadily increasing in North America and around the world. Many overdoses are preventable, often with simple and inexpensive interventions based upon scientific research, epidemiological and ethnographic insights, and common sense.

More then 400 participants attended the two day conference, which featured presentations by leading experts from around the world -- scholars, service providers, outreach workers and others who deal with and are affected by heroin overdoses, to discuss:

• Risk factors and epidemiology of heroin overdose
• Treatment modalities
• Outreach and education
• Naloxone distribution
• The roles of researchers, emergency medical services, law enforcement, and families and friends of overdose victims

Several papers from the conference were published in Addiction Research & Theory vol. 9 no. 5, 2001.  (ISSN 1606 6359)  (not available online)

Sponsored and organized by the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute and The Lindesmith Center (now Drug Policy Foundation).

Co-sponsors: Addictive Behaviors Research Center, UW; British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital; Evergreen Treatment Services; Harm Reduction Coalition; King County Division of Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services; North American Users' Union; Northwest Frontier Addiction Technology Transfer Center; Office of the Provincial Health Officer, British Columbia; Public Health of Seattle and King County; Seattle Police Department; Street Outreach Services; UFO Study at San Francisco General Hospital, UCSF; Urban Health Study, UC San Francisco; Vancouver-Richmond Health Board; Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.