Spray gives police a tool to stop overdoses from turning fatal

EVERETT — Police from several agencies across Snohomish County soon will be armed with a life-saving spray.

In recent weeks, law enforcement officers have been getting training in the use of naloxone, better known as Narcan. The prescription medication is used on people who have overdosed on heroin or painkiller opiates, such as morphine, oxycodone or Vicodin.

The training comes at a time when overdose deaths from heroin and opiates have been on the rise in Snohomish County and elsewhere in Washington.

From 2011 to 2013, roughly one out of every five heroin deaths in the state occurred in the county. In 2013 alone, heroin and prescription opioid overdoses represented two-thirds of the 130 accidental overdose deaths in the county, according to the Snohomish Health District.

People here now are more likely to be killed by an overdose than a car crash.

“It just goes back to we can’t arrest our way out of the problem,” Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. “This (Narcan) is part of a multi-faceted approach. It’s just one more tool.”

Often times, particularly in rural areas with volunteer fire departments, deputies arrive before medics to 911 calls.

“Our goal is to get everyone in patrol trained,” Ireton said. “Our emphasis is on deputies in more outlying areas.”

Equipping them with Narcan increases the odds of saving lives, she said.

A case in point is the Lummi Indian Reservation in Whatcom County. Police there saved 10 people over the course of a year, more than twice the number by local firefighters.

While emergency medical professionals have used Narcan for decades, it is relatively new for law enforcement. Each kit costs about $40.

Dr. Adam Kartman, who has been training police in Snohomish County in recent weeks, said it only makes sense to put Narcan in the hands of police since they are often the first on scene.

He puts them at ease by explaining that the Narcan is a nasal spray that can do no harm. It also can be given by injection, but police won’t be working with needles.

Narcan blocks the effects of opioid overdose, which includes shallow breathing. If administered in time, it can reverse overdose symptoms within a couple of minutes.

“It’s not holy water,” Kartman said. “It doesn’t bring back the dead.”

Although Narcan is safe and effective, the person must still have a heart beat, and sometimes CPR will still be necessary, Kartman said.

The Quincy Police Department in Massachusetts began using it in 2010. In less than three years, it reported more than 170 overdose reversals.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Marshall Phil Thompson helps keep the peace in county courthouses. He took the training Monday.

He’s said he’s glad he will be prepared if the occasion arises when he must use the spray to save a life.

“No human being wants to see another human being die,” he said.

Not everyone given the spray is a hard-core heroin addict, Ireton said. For instance, it also can be used to help children who find a pill bottle in a purse or medicine cabinet, she said. In 2008, a 17-month-old girl died in Lynn­wood after drinking some cherry-flavored methadone that was in her grandmother’s purse.

“I think you are going to get a lot of saves,” Kartman said.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com