Narcan now available to public at all county sites
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> Public access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone has been expanded to county buildings and parks in the latest initiative to combat the opioid-fueled drug scourge that claims scores of lives each year.
Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland with various countylevel law enforcement officers and county officials announced on Monday morning that doses of Narcan have been furnished for free to the public in approximately 60 automatic external defibrillator cabinets in the county courthouse, Government Center, and other county buildings. Each cabinet contains two 4 mg doses of the drug with step-by-step instructions on how to administer it nasally. These Narcan kits are manufactured by Radnor-based Adapt Pharmaceutical and were paid for through grants and District Attorney forfeiture funds. When the cabinets are opened a silent alarm dispatches emergency response to the scene.
Narcan, the brand name of the drug naloxone, is an opioid antagonist that reverses the overdose brought on by painkillers like oxycodone, Vicodin and fentanyl.
“This will enable anyone nearby to an overdose victim to potentially save their life,” said Copeland. “Our Heroin Task Force works to be proactive on a day-to-day basis, and forward thinking as well while applying the best practices in the criminal justice system.”
There have not been any reported incidents of persons overdosing on county property to warrant the inclusion of Narcan in their buildings. Catayoun and county council Chairman John McBlain said this was a proactive measure.
“Every idea, every new initiative that we can do ... that saves one life is enough,” said McBlain.
Installing doses of Narcan into the AED cabinets is the latest step taken by the Heroin Task Force to quell the drug epidemic across the county.
The task force, under the direction of then-District Attorney Jack Whelan, was a driving force to lobby the state Legislature to pass David’s Law, which allowed for the first time police officers to carry and administer naloxone to potential overdose victims. When the bill took effect in November 2014, Delaware County was the first in the state to have a countywide law enforcement naloxone program. County law enforcement officers have successfully saved 1,300 lives with naloxone in four years, the most of any county, according to the state’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.
Drug takeback boxes, a $1 million investment in rehabilitation services, and mobile drug collection vans are other initiatives sponsored by the task force.
Copeland said by the end of the year naloxone will be available in all higher education institutions that have requested it.
“We think of Narcan as a life vest,” Copeland added. “While by no means does it fix the greater problem, it can actually save a life in times of emergency. In addition to providing this lifesaving drug, we will continue to address the root cause of the problem because this certainly isn’t the only solution.”
While there have been instances where a person has been revived multiple times with naloxone, and McBlain said, “there are not enough times you can’t” save someone.
“You do it (save someone) every time. That’s the way we’re going to approach it and that’s the way we’ll continue to do it,” he said.
Drug fatalities in the county are bucking the statewide trend by having a projected decrease in deaths for 2018. From October 2017 to October 2018, deaths attributed to drugs dropped from 228 to 181. Of this year’s cases 136 have been opioid-related with more toxicities attributed to fentanyl than in years past.
Copeland said an overdose by extremely potent drugs like the synthetic opiod 3-methylfentanyl may require two doses of Narcan, that are now provided in the AED cabinets, to revive someone.