With heroin and related drug overdoses on the rise nationwide, Columbus law enforcement is now carrying doses of Narcan, an OD reversal drug, in precincts that have had the highest number of OD deaths.
“We can and should continue to rely on EMS to respond to overdoses,” said advocate Heidi Riggs, whose daughter died of a heroin overdose in 2012. “But not to the exclusion of others who may be first on the scene, which is sometimes our police officers.”
Columbus Division of Police Deputy Chief Ken Kuebler said the pilot program, spanning from June until December, supplies officers with Narcan, the brand name version of Naloxone. Each dose costs $35, but the program won’t cost any extra money, said Kuebler. The funds already exist in the CFD budget.
In December the program will be evaluated for possible widespread use, but now roughly 130 officers carry the drug in the two highest risk neighborhoods, Hilltop (43204) and the South Side (43207).
When a person is overdosing, Kuebler said there is a short six-minute window available for the person’s life to be saved. Should a police officer arrive first on the scene, Narcan will be administered a half dose at a time in each nostril after the device aerosolizes the drug for absorption through nasal tissue. And if it turns out that there was no overdose after all, Narcan won’t have any negative effects, making it a kind of miracle drug.
The aerosol was chosen over syringes for the safety it offers the person administering the dose. IV insertion breaks the skin, allowing for the risk of contracting blood-borne illnesses like HIV and Hepatitis C.
The recent use of Narcan was announced late last month at a press conference where law enforcement, city officials and advocates gathered. Each speaker referenced the increasing overdose rates throughout the country, noting that in 2014 the country saw nearly 20,000 OD deaths, a more than 300 percent gain over the previous 10 years.
Franklin County itself has the fourth highest OD rate in the state, but Columbus Public Health Commissioner Teresa Long said that when it comes to the hard numbers, Franklin County is at the very top. These deaths have occurred everywhere, from urban to rural to suburban communities.
The Columbus Fire Department administered 2,200 Narcan doses in 2015 alone; 25 percent of those were from those two zip codes; 50 percent were administered over eight zip codes.
“This is the time — or at least a key time — to remove the stigma that is around and surrounds addiction and to treat it like the chronic brain disease that it is,” Long said. “As a community we can no longer hide behind the shame, the fear, and the denial. Heroin is here, and we can do something about it.”
Along with law enforcement use of Narcan, a partnership was created with Equitas Health to bring in help that police officers alone can’t provide. They provide on-site treatment and counseling, HIV and Hepatitis C testing and access to Naloxone syringes for loved ones of individuals dealing with addiction.