By Kimball Perry, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – Because seconds save lives, 115 Columbus police officers now have in their cruisers a drug that can prevent overdose deaths as they battle the heroin epidemic.
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Officers are using the non-addictive drug naloxone — its brand name is Narcan — to quickly allow an overdose victim to breathe again. Naloxone blocks the effects of opiates, such as heroin. So far, in the four weeks patrol officers have used naloxone, seven overdose victims have been resuscitated by spraying the drug into victims’ nostrils.
“What we set out to do here is give our officers an opportunity to save lives,” Deputy Chief Ken Kuebler said. “Everybody took this job because they want to make a difference and they want to save lives.”
Overdose deaths are up 366 percent in Ohio in the past 13 years. In Ohio in 2015, naloxone was administered more than 16,000 times.
By providing the drug to 115 officers, the goal is to give life-saving tools to those who first respond to dangerous scenes, including heroin overdoses. The fire department, Kuebler said, almost always arrives first. But when police get there first, they now can administer the drug. The goal, if the pilot program results show the need, is for many of the remaining 800-plus Columbus officers to also be provided the drug.