More first responders now carry Narcan
Region’s agencies spur use of opiate antidote
As heroin spreads, so does its antidote: Narcan.
The “miracle drug” that rips off and replaces opiate molecules on the brain’s receptors is credited with saving lives, reversing an overdose into a withdrawal within minutes.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is the most recent department in Central Florida to train its officers to use Narcan.
Since 2016, Orange and Seminole County sheriff’s offices have trained dozens of patrol deputies — often the first people on the scene — to administer Narcan easily through a nasal spray. Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office said it plans to train its officers later this year.
The Lake Sheriff’s Office equipped its patrolling officers, supervisors and undercover narcotics detectives with 112 doses of Narcan at the cost of $4,742.
Florida heroin and fentanyl fatalities have nearly quadrupled to 1,438 from 378 between 2013 and 2015, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In Lake alone, emergency medical responders in 2016 administered about 900 doses of Narcan via syringe, with some patients needing more than
one to be revived from an opioid overdose, said John Simpson, chief operating officer for Lake County Emergency Medical Services.
He said that’s an increase of 45 percent from the year before.
“I would tell you that it’s very effective,” Simpson said. “But one of the trends we’re seeing is that it’s taking higher and higher doses of Narcan” to stop opiate overdoses.
That’s because drugs purchased on the street are often laced with powerful pain killers such as the pharmaceutical fentanyl. When fentanyl is mixed with heroin, the high can vary intensely from batch to batch, he said.
“There’s no quality control,” Simpson said.
In Orange County, 43 people have died from overdoses since January. That’s about the same number of people who died during the first half of 2016, but Orange deputies are combating a greater number of overall overdoses — 71 percent more.
Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill last month that expanded murder charges to drug dealers who sold derivatives of fentanyl. A 20-year-old Sanford man was indicted on a first-degree murder charge, accused of selling drugs that included fentanyl to Jesse Bardwell. Bardwell, 29, died of a drug overdose in April. First-degree murder convictions carry a mandatory minimum life sentence in Florida.
For Lake County Sheriff Peyton Grinnell, a Republican elected last November, many of his changes to the department have revolved around drugs. The sheriff plans to ask county commissioners for money to help staff full-time drug-resistance education officers in Lake schools.
His focus on saving lives also includes combating heroin dealers, which he made clear in a viral video he posted earlier this year.
In it, Grinnell stands next to masked undercover agents and delivers a stern message: “If our agents can show the nexus between you, the pusher of poison, and the person that overdoses and dies, we will charge you with murder.”
Between October and April, there were 24 opioidrelated overdoses that resulted in four deaths in Lake.
“Our main focus is to get that person stabilized so we can get them the appropriate treatment and hopefully save their life,” Grinnell said, adding that deputies often arrive at a scene before EMS.
The drug isn’t limited to deputies and emergency responders. A Florida law that took effect last year allows anyone to purchase Narcan without a prescription. The drug does not induce a high and is harmless to those not overdosing.
Because it ejects the opiates from the brain’s synapses, the only side effects can be the typical symptoms of any withdrawal experience.
“[Patients] go through immediate withdrawal — meaning, they’re angry … you know you pushed too much Narcan when a patient is vomiting and trying to punch you at the same time,” said Dr. Desmond Fitzpatrick, the medical director at Lake EMS.
He said he’s experienced such fury from users whose lives he’s saved but whose high he’s taken away with Narcan.
The antidote lasts for about 45 minutes, at which time the opiate can take over again and patients can fall unconscious. The next step is a visit to an emergency room, Fitzpatrick says, where a physician will offer treatments and suggest community resources if the patient is to choose a battle for recovery.
“That’s only gotten better,” he said. “A couple of years ago, there used to be few community resources.”