Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2014
Source: Leaf-Chronicle, The (US TN)
Copyright: 2014, The Leaf-Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.theleafchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1601
Author: Donna Leinwand Leger

POLICE CARRY SPECIAL DRUG TO REVERSE HEROIN OVERDOSES

Law Enforcement Often Arrives on Scene Before EMTs

As Boston celebrated its World Series victory last fall with a grand 
parade through downtown, a distraught young man burst through the 
crowd in search of police. But he didn't want Boston police. He 
wanted an officer from Quincy, a Boston suburb.

The man's girlfriend had overdosed on heroin. He had heard Quincy 
police carry naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opiate overdose 
instantly. Quincy officers, helping with security at the parade, 
administered the drug, reversed the overdose and saved the 20-year-old woman.

Since Quincy officers began carrying a nasal form of the drug, known 
commonly by its trade name, Narcan, in October 2010, they have 
administered the drug 221 times and reversed 211 overdoses, said Lt. 
Detective Patrick Glynn, commander of the narcotics unit and special 
investigations at the Quincy Police Department.

As opiate overdoses have soared nationwide, more police departments 
are considering equipping their police officers and other first 
responders with naloxone instead of waiting for paramedics to arrive. 
Police are often the first to get to the scene, and experts say those 
early minutes can be the key to saving a life.

The public safety department in Espanola, N.M., in early 2013 became 
the first police agency in the Southwest to equip its police and 
first responders with naloxone, said Chief Eric Garcia, director of 
public safety.

"It's a great tool to add to our arsenal," he said. "It's not only 
weapons that we need to have. The bottom line for law enforcement is 
that we are there to protect and serve the public, to preserve life 
and property."

In Ocean County, N.J., when overdose deaths doubled from 53 in 2012 
to 112 in 2013, county prosecutor Joseph Coronato "looked at every 
option to address the problem," including equipping officers with 
naloxone, spokesman Al Della Fave said.

The county will pay for the $25 nasal naloxone kits with money from 
the county's drug forfeiture fund, he said. "It'll be the drug 
dealers who will be paying for this."

Ocean County will begin training its police officers in all 31 local 
departments to use naloxone in February, Della Fave said.

"The officers don't want to be standing there helpless, waiting for 
EMS," he said.

An overdose of heroin or other opiates such as oxycodone or 
hydrocodone can depress breathing and leave the user unconscious. 
Untreated, the user can die.

Naloxone binds to the opioid receptors in the brain, displacing other 
drugs and reversing the effects, said Alexander Walley, an internist 
and addiction medicine specialist at the Boston University School of 
Medicine. Naloxone can be administered by injection into a muscle or 
as a nasal spray and lasts 30 to 90 minutes. It won't reverse the 
effects of other types of drugs.

In Massachusetts, the Department of Public Health established a pilot 
program to distribute naloxone to friends and families of opiate 
addicts in 2007. By 2009, police and fire departments asked to participate.

Five departments now equip first responders with naloxone and many 
more have expressed interest, said Hilary Jacobs, director of the 
Bureau of Substance Abuse Services.

Contributing: Andrea McCarren, WUSA
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