We have been talking a lot about Narcan recently, as more and more police and fire agencies turn to the drug to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses in drug users.
Our client, the Chelmsford Police Department, recently deployed nasal Narcan in all of its police cruisers, for example.
Now comes news from the New Bedford Standard-Times that police and emergency agencies in that city are reversing the effects of a heroin overdose almost every, single day with Narcan, since police and fire were given the drug on April 26.
Imagine how many lives that has saved — but imagine if you can the scope of the opioid problem in the South Coast if this carries over to 300-400 instances per year?
“If that many people are overdosing, then we have a serious opiate problem, Detective Capt. Steven Vicente, the NBPD public information officer, told the newspaper.
First responders started widespread use of Narcan after Governor Deval Patrick declared heroin to be a public health crisis, giving the state Department of Public Health sweeping powers to act against the epidemic.