A CAMPAIGN group has criticised local authorities for failing to provide drugs to help heroin users who are overdosing.

Naloxone is a drug which blocks or reverses the effects of heroin and other opioids during an overdose, and can potentially save lives, and a recent survey by the Local Government Association and Public Health England, showed the LGA in Yorkshire & Humber had issued the drug until 2016, but that pilot was discontinued to save money.

Campaign group Release said the number of people who died from opioid overdoses had risen in recent years to its highest ever level, and the lack of naxolone was a grave concern.

Zoe Carre, from Release, said: "There were nearly 1900 opiate-related overdose deaths registered in England in 2016 - the highest number since records began, and over 4 times higher than the figure in 1993. Many of these deaths could have been prevented if naloxone, a life-saving antidote to opioid overdose, was provided more widely for people to take home.

"The scale of the problem is a public health crisis, as such, it requires a national and coordinated response, and Government must not leave it to local authorities but must take action to prevent more people dying."

The organisation said naxolone was "a safe and cheap overdose reversal medication" and while "138 out of 152 local authorities confirmed they provided take home naloxone, the level of provision was chronically inadequate and certainly was not sufficient to prevent opioid deaths to any meaningful extent".

The LGA in Yorkshire & Humber said the pilot ended in 2016 due to cuts to the public health budget, and "having to find significant savings across all services it was not something we could consider at that time".

A spokesperson said the LGA had "started discussions with our providers to see how we can make it available", and plans were being developed to allow specialist services to issue naloxone at treatment hubs.