Who we are
Antidote Danmark is an NGO that, together with a diverse network of volunteers and a small secretariat, works to prevent and stop overdoses. Too many people lose their lives to an overdose. By widely sharing knowledge on how to recognize and respond to overdoses using Antidote, we can reduce overdose deaths and help prevent non-fatal overdoses.
Antidote instructor
Meet some of our instructors who are out in the field spreading Antidote.
An instructor is someone who has been authorized by our medical doctor to train others in overdose response and distribute Antidote nasal spray. They are the backbone of our organization, ensuring that Antidote reaches the communities and places where it is needed most.
Instructors from Jylland; Marcus, Paw and Daniel are interviewed by Rasmus Poulsen at a conference in Aarhus.
Instructor Andreas from Odense
Instructor Nadja, Natascha and Michael
Board of directors
Jakob Hartvig Thomsen, physician, PhD, Chair
Anders Bang, physician
Tina Leth, nurse
Caroline Adolphsen, lawyer and professor
Marianne Abildgaard, treasurer
Carl Martin Söderström, physician
Mads Bang-Nielsen, management consultant
The history of Antidote
The fight to prevent overdose deaths
The fight has been long and ongoing. For 40 years, a conflict has unfolded on the streets of Vesterbro in Copenhagen between some of Denmark’s most marginalized drug users and a rapidly gentrifying neighbourhood.
In Denmark’s largest open drug scene—where around 800 people who use drugs pass through daily—and in a district that has increasingly been modernised, a struggle has emerged for equal rights, health, dignity, and an end to overdose deaths. For the past 20 years, social entrepreneur Michael Lodberg Olsen has been part of the fight to establish the first supervised consumption facility on Vesterbro. Several of his initiatives were shut down by the authorities—first Café Dugnad, a drop-in space for people who use drugs with the first two public toilets, and later a basement space in Reventlovsgade behind Copenhagen Central Station.
This led to the creation of the mobile supervised consumption unit “Fixelance” — not to evade the police, but to move according to the needs of people who use drugs and reduce conflict in the neighbourhood. A civil initiative that contributed to the establishment of permanent supervised consumption facilities not only on Vesterbro, but also in Odense, Aarhus, and Vejle. A grassroots effort involving more than 300 volunteers, helping build new forms of welfare for people who use drugs in Denmark.
Antidote today
After years of fighting to prevent overdose deaths and improve living conditions for people who use drugs on Vesterbro, the work expanded to reducing overdose mortality across Denmark. Every year, around 250 people die from drug-related causes, with more than 200 of those deaths caused by overdose. Since the early 1990s, no national initiative has succeeded in significantly reducing these numbers.
In 2013, a group of dedicated physicians and nurses, led by social entrepreneur Michael Lodberg Olsen, founded Antidote Danmark. Antidote Danmark is a volunteer-driven NGO working to reduce overdose deaths by spreading knowledge about overdose recognition and response, while distributing a life-saving antidote: a naloxone nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes. Together with people who use drugs, their families, and frontline professionals, we work to ensure that those most likely to witness an overdose have the knowledge and tools to act quickly and save lives.
This is where we stand today: unwavering in our commitment to making naloxone widely available to people who use drugs and their loved ones, so we can reduce the unacceptably high number of overdose deaths in Denmark.
You can help reduce overdose deaths. Research shows that for take-home naloxone programmes to have a significant impact, there should be approximately 20 times more naloxone kits in circulation than currently. In Denmark, that means distributing 4,000–5,000 Antidote kits every year.
With our current resources—a small secretariat and a largely volunteer-based organisation—we cannot achieve this alone.
But we will keep fighting. Because every Antidote kit placed in the hands of someone who might need it is another step towards saving a life.
Antidote Danmark is funded by:
- SUNDHEDSMINISTERIET 2022 – 2025
- SUNDHEDSMINISTERIET 2018 – 2022
- SUNDHEDSSTYRELSEN 2016 – 2018
- TIPS- OG LOTTO MIDLER 2013 – 2016
- Jubilæumsfonden af 12.08.1973
- Asta og Jul. P. Justesens Fond
- Aase og Ejnar Danielsens Fond
- OAK Danmark støtter Projekt Kammeratredning