Pubdate: Sun, 30 Nov 2014
Source: Gloucester Daily Times (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Eagle Tribune Publishing Company
Website: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/169
Author: Dave Rogers

ANOTHER CITY JOINS GLOUCESTER IN ADDING NARCAN TO POLICE ANTI-OD ARSENAL

Add Newburyport to the list of cities that have taken up an anti-drug
step first launched in Gloucester.

Newburyport's police officers are the latest North Shore department to
now carry the anti-opiate overdose drug Narcan to emergency scenes
having added Narcan kits to each cruiser's defibrillator kits two weeks ago.

The change was the culmination of an almost year-long process that
began when City Marshal Thomas Howard made the decision to have his
department join an ever-growing list of departments nationwide that
have trained and supplied their officers to administer Narcan.

Gloucester had been the first community in the state to have both its
police officers and Fire Department ambulance crews carry nasal doses
of Narcan, which temporarily reverses the effects of a heroin or other
opiate overdose, in 2011.

Most recently, police in Haverhill also began carrying Narcan two
weeks ago, and across the state and nationally, a spike in the number
of opiate-induced overdoses has changed the discussion on whether the
drug should be made available to not only police departments, but
firefighters and private citizens.

With heroin overdoses not only a regional problem, but a scourge
across the country, Howard called the decision a "no-brainer." "The
officers are 100 percent behind it," Howard said.

Since this spring, Newburyport has experienced several disturbing and
tragic episodes regarding drug use. In June, a man and woman were
found dead inside a Munroe Street apartment of suspected heroin
overdoses. A month later, two men were arrested after allegedly
shooting up inside a Newburyport Public Library bathroom. Around the
same time in Salisbury, police arrested two men shortly after they
took drugs inside Honey Dew Donuts on Bridge Road.

Earlier this year, Gov. Deval Patrick called opiate-based overdoses an
epidemic and declared a public health crisis. At the same time,
Patrick announced that all first responders will be able to carry and
administer Narcan. He also declared that the drug will be widely
available through standing order prescription in pharmacies in order
to provide greater access to family and friends who fear a loved one
might overdose.

There has been criticism that by making Narcan available to the public
it might actually inspire people to use heroin knowing there is a
counter-measure.

Getting Narcan in the hands of local police officers was the result of
the cooperation of Atlantic Ambulance which helped facilitate the
training necessary and supply the department with the drug. Last
spring, every Newburyport police officer took part in extensive
training inside a Parker River National Wildlife Refuge conference
room as part of the annual first--aid recertification process.

"It's one more tool for us help save a life," Simons said.
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