The primary purpose of this Toolkit is to educate a broad audience on overdose causes, risks, and signs, as well as the steps to take when witnessing and responding to an overdose. It provides clear, accessible information on opioid overdose reversal medications, such as naloxone. This Toolkit serves to complement, not replace, training on overdose prevention and response. It is also intended to augment the use of other overdose prevention tools for community engagement and planning, as well as enhance provider education across multiple practice areas.

Overdose education and response tools have the greatest impact when focused on people who use drugs because they are most likely to witness and respond to an overdose. However, it is important to recognize that anyone could witness an overdose—whether on the street, at work, at home, in a clinical setting, or in a school. This Toolkit is therefore available for everyone to provide basic knowledge on how to recognize and respond to an overdose.