Pubdate: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 Source: Webster Post (NY) Copyright: 2014 Gatehouse Media, Inc. Contact: http://www.websterpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5521 Author: Aaron Curtis COUNTIES AWAIT ANTI-HEROIN-OD KITS Canandaigua, N.Y. CANANDAIGUA - The Ontario County Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee has voted to accept funds for training and equipping deputies with Naloxone, an antidote to overdoses from heroin and other opiates. Ontario County Sheriff Phil Povero asked the committee to reserve $5,640, made available through a New York state grant that would reimburse the costs associated with 94 Naloxone kits ordered by the county. In July, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution that allows trained deputies to carry Naloxone, the medication that can reverse an opiate-related overdose. The medication is administered to a person in the form of a nasal mist. The state Department of Health's Opioid Prevention Program, passed in 2006, was developed in an attempt to combat overdose-related deaths, as the prevalence of opiate use increases across the state and nation. The law made it legal for non-medical personnel to carry Naloxone, making its use by law enforcement possible. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office sent letters to law enforcement urging them to utilize the program and "fight this destruction." "Police officers, in many cases, are the first to reach the scene," Povero said. "So we hope to see a positive outcome (as a result of this legislation)." The attorney general invited county lawmakers to reserve the reimbursement funds, composed of $5 million. The fund was made possible by seized crime proceeds, according to the attorney general's office. The resolution accepting the funds will be up for a vote by the full Board of Supervisors meeting, set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 630 W. North St., Geneva. According to Schneiderman's letter to law enforcement personnel, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. for people ages 25 to 64, with more than 40 percent of those deaths attributed to opioid analgesics. And the Department of Justice website states that there has been an increase of 320 percent of heroin seized at the southwestern U.S. border from 2008 to 2013. "Heroin overdose deaths nationwide increased 55 percent from 2000 to 2010," Schneiderman added. "Here in New York state it was reported that opioid overdoses killed 2,051 people in 2011, more than twice the number in 2004." Povero said that heroin use has become a "national epidemic" as the drug flows into the country at heavier volumes. "It's a bad drug to get yourself messed up with," said Yates County Sheriff Ronald Spike. "It's ruined a lot of lives and it's killing people." Yates and Wayne counties also have made the decision to equip law enforcement agencies with Naloxone, while Monroe County has plans in the works to use the medication. Spike said that Yates County is more than ready to use the Naloxone kits, which have yet to be shipped to law enforcement agencies by the state. "We're seeing an increase in it just like everybody else,"Spike said. "It's something we need to address to save lives." Spike said that over the last year, the Yates sheriff's department has dealt with six heroin-related overdoses. "The deaths that we have seen when we arrive at the scene, the individual still has a needle in the arm," Spike said. He added that there was a recent arrest of a driver who was stopped in the county after leaving Rochester. An eventual K-9 search of the vehicle turned up 90 bags of heroin hidden in the car's center console. Cocaine was also found in the vehicle. According to Spike, opioid prescription medications - including Oxycontin, Opana and Vicodin - were more common prior to the heroin epidemic, but with programs like the Prescription Drug Take-Back Program being initiated, those pills have become more rare and expensive. "There's always been drug abuse around for a certain amount of the population, but heroin is more affordable," Spike said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D