Huntington, New York Offers Free Naloxone Training for Students

The Town of Huntington, New York, will host a free naloxone training program for college and high school students on July 28, teaching young people to recognize an opioid overdose and administer the medication that can reverse it.

While naloxone training addresses the acute emergency of an overdose, it also opens the door to a conversation people often overlook: what happens after someone survives, and why medical detox is the safest next step.

The Training and Who Is Leading It

The session will run from 4:30 p.m. in the Town Board Room at Huntington Town Hall and will be led by Barry Zaks of the Huntington Drug and Alcohol Counseling Center.

Zaks will teach participants how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose and properly administer naloxone, the medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses by blocking the drug’s effects on the brain.

The event is sponsored by Councilwoman Theresa Mari in partnership with the Huntington Drug and Alcohol Counseling Center, the HYB Institute, and the Huntington Youth Bureau. Participants will receive a free naloxone kit and can earn community service credit for attending.

Understanding Naloxone

Naloxone works by binding to the same brain receptors that opioids attach to, displacing the opioid and rapidly restoring normal breathing in someone experiencing an overdose.

It has no effect on someone who has not taken opioids and carries minimal risk of harm, which is why public health officials increasingly train non-medical bystanders, including students, to carry and use it.

Naloxone reverses the immediate, life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose, but it does not address the underlying opioid use disorder. That is where medical detox becomes essential.

Why Medical Detox Matters After an Overdose

Surviving an overdose is often the moment when someone or their family recognizes the need for structured help. Medical detox provides supervised withdrawal management, allowing a person to safely clear opioids from their system while clinicians monitor for complications and manage symptoms with medications when appropriate.

Attempting to stop opioid use without medical supervision after a recent overdose carries real risks, including the potential for another overdose if a person relapses after their tolerance has dropped.

Medication-assisted treatment, using medications such as buprenorphine or methadone alongside counseling, is often introduced during or shortly after medical detox and has strong evidence behind it for reducing the risk of future overdose.

Buprenorphine works by partially activating the same receptors opioids target, easing withdrawal symptoms and cravings without producing the same intensity of euphoria, while methadone offers a longer-acting option for people with more severe opioid use disorder.

Programs like Huntington’s also matter because they reach young people before a crisis occurs, not just after one. Teaching students to recognize overdose signs, such as slowed or stopped breathing, blue-tinged lips, and unresponsiveness, gives them the tools to act quickly for a friend, family member, or stranger.

That quick action can be the difference between a survivable overdose and a fatal one, and it can also be the moment that opens the door to treatment for someone who has been struggling.

Finding Medical Detox

Never attempt opioid detox without medical supervision, particularly after a recent overdose, since the body’s tolerance changes can make future opioid use more dangerous, not less.

Naloxone training programs like the one in Huntington are a critical first line of defense, but they work best as part of a broader safety net that includes access to medical detox and ongoing treatment. Call 800-996-6135(Sponsored) to find medically supervised detox programs that can help someone move from crisis to stable recovery.