In the first month of 2017, local police officers gave out or replaced nearly a third of the doses of an overdose reversing drug that they had in all of 2016.
Police across the county said the number of people overdosing on heroin and other opiate drugs continues to rise.
Every police officer and deputy in the county has a dose of Narcan, which counteracts an overdose, in their vehicle. They are equipped with the doses by Johnson Memorial Health as part of a program started in 2015. In January, the hospital system gave police 13 doses of the drug, spokesman Jeff Dutton said. The doses replaced ones that police officers administered in homes, backseats of their cars and along roadsides in Johnson County, or ones that had expired.
In 2016, local police officers went to the hospital to get doses of the overdose antidote 40 times so they could be ready to use the drug when needed, he said.
If the pace stayed the same for the rest of the year, local police officers are set to need three to four times as many doses of the drug this year to give out to people they come across who are overdosing.
Abuse of heroin and other opiate drugs has continued to be an issue both locally and statewide. State lawmakers are working on several proposals to try to address the issue. And recently, the county prosecutor and Greenwood City Court announced a new program aimed at helping offenders on probation recover from addiction.
Nearly every day, a sheriff’s deputy has either needed to give Narcan to someone or has been on a call with medics who are administering the drug, Sheriff Doug Cox said.
“Not a day goes by where we aren’t either using it, or going on a run where the fire department is using it,” Cox said.
In Franklin, police were recently on a call where two men had to be given Narcan while overdosing after a traffic stop.
And in Edinburgh, police have to make sure to stay on top of their supply of the drug, since police officers are the first responders who carry it, Edinburgh Police Chief David Mann said.
So, on a recent shift, when they used two doses on a man who was overdosing and then realized another dose was expired, they went to the hospital to get more so they could be sure to be prepared, he said.
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Here is a look at the number of doses of Narcan, a drug that reverses an overdose, given to local police by Johnson Memorial Health:
2015: 19
2016: 40
2017 (January): 13
SOURCE: Johnson Memorial Health
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