Respawn — overdose response Full guide ↗

Someone isn't waking up

Work down this page in order. You don't need training or permission, and you can't make it worse.

Call 911Tap to dialDial 9-1-1 from any phone

Say this "Someone is unresponsive and not breathing." Then give the address. You do not have to mention drugs.

Then, in this order

  1. Try to wake them

    Shout their name and shake their shoulders. If nothing, rub your knuckles hard on their breastbone.

    Responds at all? They're very high, not overdosing — stay with them. No response? Treat it as an overdose.

  2. Call 911

    Say someone is unresponsive and not breathing, and give the address. That is the sentence that gets help moving.

    You don't have to mention drugs. Ohio's Good Samaritan law protects people who call for help in good faith.

  3. Give naloxone

    Nasal spray: lay them on their back, put the nozzle in one nostril until your fingers touch the bottom of their nose, and press the plunger all the way in. Injectable: draw up the whole vial and inject it straight into the outer thigh or the muscle of the upper arm.

    Whichever kind your kit has is one full dose. Nothing to measure or calculate either way.

  4. Help them breathe

    Tilt the head back, lift the chin, pinch the nose shut, and give one slow breath every 5 seconds. Not able or willing to do breaths? Do hands-only chest compressions instead.

    Oxygen is what protects the brain while the naloxone catches up. This step matters as much as the dose.

  5. Still nothing after 2–3 minutes? Give another dose

    Use a fresh dose — the other nostril, or a new vial and a new syringe. Keep going every 2–3 minutes for as long as you have doses.

    Fentanyl overdoses often take more than one dose. Running out is common — using too much is not a thing.

  6. Stay with them

    Naloxone wears off in 30–90 minutes and the overdose can come back. Stay until EMS arrives. If you must step away, roll them onto their side so they cannot choke.

    Waking up in withdrawal feels awful — sweating, nausea, agitation. Be calm, say what happened, and keep them from taking more.

Step 3, both ways

A kit holds one or the other. Both are a full dose. Use whichever you have.

Nasal spray

Prefilled, sealed, ready. Nothing to assemble, nothing to measure.

Dose
One spray = one full dose
Speed
Starts working in 2–3 minutes
  1. Lay them on their back Tilt the head back so the spray goes where it needs to. They do not need to be breathing in for it to work.
  2. Nozzle all the way into one nostril Push it in until your fingers touch the bottom of their nose.
  3. Press the plunger firmly, all the way One hard press. It empties in one go — there is no half dose and nothing to prime first.
  • Do not test-spray it beforehand. Each device holds exactly one dose and a test spray wastes it.
  • A blocked or bloody nose is the one time it may not absorb well. If nothing happens and you also have the injectable kind, use that.

Injection into a muscle (IM)

A vial and a syringe. More steps than the spray, the same medicine, and it works just as well — you are injecting into muscle, which is far more forgiving than it sounds.

Dose
One whole vial = one full dose
Speed
Starts working in 2–5 minutes
  1. Flip the cap off the vial Snap the little plastic cap off the top. The rubber underneath is what the needle goes through — in an overdose you do not need to wipe it first.
  2. Draw up all of it Push the needle through the rubber, turn the vial upside down, and pull the plunger back until the liquid is all in the syringe. That is 1 mL, and 1 mL is one full dose. Small air bubbles do not matter when you inject into muscle. Do not spend a second flicking at them.
  3. Inject straight into the outer thigh or upper arm The fleshy outside of the thigh, or the meat of the shoulder. Needle straight in at a right angle, all the way, through clothing if that is faster. You are aiming for muscle, not a vein. You do not need to find a vein, and you do not need to pull back to check for blood. Skip the buttock — the sciatic nerve is there.
  4. Push the plunger down and pull the needle out All the way down, then straight back out. There is no need to hold it in or massage the spot.
  5. Put the used syringe somewhere safe Do not put the cap back on — that is when people stick themselves. Drop it in a sharps container, or any hard container with a lid that nobody will reach into. Deal with it after; the person comes first.
  • Injecting it into fat instead of muscle, or into the wrong bit of the thigh, is not a disaster — it still gets absorbed. A dose given imperfectly beats a dose not given.
  • You cannot overdose someone on naloxone, and it does nothing at all to a person who has not taken opioids. There is no version of this where giving it is the wrong call.
  • Got a prefilled injector instead (Zimhi and similar)? Skip the first two steps: pull the cap off and inject it into the thigh. The dose is already in it and printed on the side.
  • If you stick yourself, finish helping the person first. Then wash it with soap and water and tell us — we will help you get checked, and nobody is in trouble.

Is this an overdose?

Someone very high responds to their name or a shake. Someone overdosing doesn't. If you're unsure, give naloxone anyway — it cannot hurt a person who hasn't taken opioids.

After

1-800-662-4357 — SAMHSA helpline24/7 988 — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline24/7 (614) 666-6960 — ask us for a free kitRespawn Safer use guideRead Print this for a wallPrint

Community overdose-response information, not medical advice. Follows public health guidance from SAMHSA, NIDA/NIH, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, the National Harm Reduction Coalition, and CATIE. Last reviewed July 2026. Ohio's Good Samaritan law gives limited immunity from minor drug possession charges to people who seek medical help in good faith — call anyway. This page works offline once you've opened it once.