HALIFAX – Health officials in Nova Scotia say free naloxone kits will be available to the public at 300 community pharmacies across the province beginning Sept. 1.

The move to expand the $564,000 antidote program is part of a framework plan to address opioid use and overdoses that was released today in Halifax.

The plan focuses on five key issues including understanding the issue, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, prescribing practices and law enforcement.

Opioid death numbers will now be posted online and there are also plans to share more specific information between police forces and other first responders in order to help detect and address potential “hotspots” in the province.

However, chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang says two other significant measures, safe injection sites and prescription standards for opioids, are still being studied.

Officials say there were 54 acute opioid overdose deaths in the province in 2016, with four involving illicit fentanyl and three others involving another powerful synthetic opioid, U-47700.

Note to readers: CORRECTS spelling of opioids