A new app is currently being developed with the hopes of preventing (or at least reducing) the numbers of deaths related to opioid overdose.
Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle calls the new app “Second Chance” due to the kind of death that it aims to prevent. The way it works is by using sonar technology to monitor a drug user’s breathing and heart rate during a drug session, in order to ensure that everything is going well. The sonar technology can detect the user up to 3 feet.
The only possible problem for some is that they first have to log into the app before taking a hit of their drug, which a lot of drug users could be wary of. However, scientists say that it will be completely anonymous.
“We send an anonymous signal using the smartphone speaker,” one of the scientists explains. “And this sound signal gets reflected off the person’s body.”
If, during the session, the drug user’s breathing drops to 7 breaths a minute, the app will automatically call 911 or any listed friend or family within the app. Researchers have already tested the app in Vancouver, Canada within the hospital setting, but they’ve still yet to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
