OD lifesaver turns the tide, but it’s costing more

doses.

“The only way naloxone works is if it can be distributed in surplus,” Mr. Lettrich said. “If it is distributed through scarcity, it doesn’t have as great an effect.”

One of the reasons that more naloxone is getting to Pittsburgh-area residents is an uptick in state funding. In an unprecedented move for the state, Gov. Tom Wolf set aside $5 million in the state’s 20172018 budget to purchase naloxone. The Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency, which oversees the distribution of naloxone, gave out 29,208 doses statewide from July 2017 to March 2018, according to Nate Wardle, press secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Some say that naloxone is a reason that overdose deaths are on the decline. In a May report, the Office of the Medical Examiner for Allegheny County concluded that, although drug overdose deaths increased from 2016 to 2017, overdoses reached their highest level sometime in 2016 “and have dropped prog r e s s i v e l y since that point.” The report attributed the decline in part to naloxone.

Dr. Hacker said that, while she cannot be sure which of the county’s public health interventions have contributed to the drop in overdose deaths, she hopes that the uptick in naloxone distribution is “having some impact.” She added that she is “cautiously optimistic” that the downward trend in overdose deaths will continue.

Prevention Point’s Ms. Bell agreed that this data is “a little glimmer of hope” likely in part because of naloxone, but said it’s “too soon for us to say everything’s turning around.”

Still, she and other proponents of naloxone say the drug has helped prevent scores of overdose deaths around the city.

“I think that while we have had increases in overdose deaths over the past several years, those increases have been substantially offset by the availability of Narcan over the past few years,” Mr. Lettrich said.

The ‘critical population’

July 2017 to March 2018, 74 percent of naloxone doses handed out by the state has gone to “traditional first responders” such as police and fire departments, according to Mr. Wardle, the state Health Department spokesman.

But these groups are not the only ones to have received naloxone from the state grant.

“What’s really nice about that program is that they actually defined first responder quite broadly to include probation officers, after-school programs, libraries and other community organizations that might witness an overdose,” said Abby Wilson, deputy director of public policy and community relations for the Allegheny County Health Department.

Another group targeted in naloxone distribution efforts is “people who have never overdosed but may overdose,” according to Mr. Fisk. The nurse practitioner noted that his hospital gives naloxone to anyone suspected of opioid abuse, as well as some patients who are prescribed opioids but are not yet addicted. Some people are also given naloxone as they leave Allegheny County Jail.

“Whenyou can distribute from a place of abundance, you can give it to people who aren’t sure they’ll need it and those are usually the people who use it,” Mr. Lettrich said.

Drug users also benefit from access to naloxone, Ms. Bell said, since they are likely to be present during an overdose and therefore in the best position to make a save. She called drug users a “critical population” to supply with naloxone.

In recent years, the Allegheny County Health Department has supplied Prevention Point with naloxone to give to drug users. The health department also recently amended an ordinance to make it easier for Prevention Point to open needle exchanges and to hand out the drug.

Targeting multiple groups that might be able to reverse an overdose is an effective strategy, experts say.

Lynn Mirigian, director of the Overdose Prevention Research Program at the University of Pittsburgh’s Program Evaluation Research Unit, said a wide variety of “people working together” is the most successful way to ensure the widespread distribution of the drug.

“You need to hit a wide breadth of people with sufficient levels of resources so that way basically nobody is missing,” she said.

A 40-year-old Glassport man was killed when the motorcycle he was operating crashed Saturday in West Mifflin.

The accident happened at 6:58 p.m., and Frank Wehrer was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:38 p.m.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office reported in a news release issued Sunday that the accident happened at the intersection of Duquesne and Center avenues.

The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

No other details were immediately available.

Beechview man cleared in death at group home

An Allegheny County Common Pleas Court jury returned a not-guilty verdict against a Beechview man accused of homicide in the death of a co-worker at a group home for adults with autism.

Deon Wells, 24, had been charged with one count of criminal homicide in the Aug. 4, 2017, killing of Timothy Maxon, 50.

The trial before Judge Edward J. Borkowski began Tuesday and the verdict was handed down Friday.

Statements during the trial showed the men worked together at the ARC Human Services group home on Kendridge Drive in Kennedy. Mr. Maxon and Mr. Wells were scheduled to work the overnight shift that night and they argued about who would go to a hospital overnight to stay with a resident who had been taken there.

Prosecutors contended that Mr. Wells retrieved a gun from his vehicle and shot Mr. Maxon in the chest during the altercation. Defense attorney Aaron Sontz countered Mr. Wells acted in self-defense. The defendant testified during the trial that Mr. Maxon threatened to beat him.

Mr. Sontz said Sunday he was prohibited by office policy to comment.