Dr. Des Crowley:

I totally agree with Dr. O'Driscoll. We know that if it does arrive, it is going to be a big problem because they are very powerful and dangerous. In the meantime, we can ensure anybody who requires treatment for opioid dependence has treatment because that would be protective. Tolerance to opioids, either through use of opioids or by treatment with OST, protects you from overdoses. Engaging people who we know are using opioids into our services is what we can do. Hopefully, it will not arrive but if it does arrive we will need to have some joined-up thinking about how we manage it. Naloxone is going to be a big player in that regard because it is really the only thing we have to reverse opioid overdoses.