First responders at risk as drugs take deadly turn

Much has been made of the dangers inherent in the new heroin and opioid scourge that is taking a horrific toll on the county, region and nation.

The numbers – both of those lost and those saved by the miracle overdose-reversing drug Narcan – are testament to just how bad the situation is.

Increasingly, the presence of fentanyl is leading to death. Across the state, a study indicated fentanyl was detected in half of the state’s overdose deaths in 2016.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 89 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S.

The fentanyl death rate has doubled in just one year from 2015 to 2016, according to the CDC. They also point to Pennsylvania as being among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.

Those numbers would be much higher if not for Narcan and David’s Law, named for resident David Massi, who lost his battle with addiction and died of an overdose.

The legislation was pushed by families, anti-drug activists, elected officials and law enforcement personnel.

Last week a special banquet was held to celebrate the second chance and to allow those revived – literally saved from death’s door – in the midst of an overdose to thank the first responders who administered the life-saving drug.

Narcan has been used to save 921 lives.

But there is another aspect – one growing each day – that has not been as evident.

This business of responding and saving victims of an overdose gets a little bit riskier each day for police and first responders.

That’s because the substances involved are getting deadlier. Heroin today is often cut with powerful substances such as fentanyl and carfentanil, which can put a first responder’s life in jeopardy with just a tiny contact with the skin.

Wednesday at the Haverford Police Station in Delaware County, county officials rolled out their newest weapon in the war on opioid abuse, this one meant to protect those first responders who now could be putting their life on the line while investigating and testing suspected deadly drugs.

Officials rolled out something called the Progeny ResQ analyzer. The handheld device isn’t cheap – one of them runs about $50,000 – but what it does could prove invaluable in protecting officers and first responders.

The handheld device utilizes a laser to quickly analyze a substance and can detect the presence of the two biggest threats out there today, when drugs such as heroin have been cut with the powerful painkiller fentanyl and even the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil.

In total it can detect as many as 13,000 different chemicals and controlled substances. In addition to its use in the war on drugs, the laser also can be used to detect explosives.

These drugs are so powerful that officers are in danger of a possible overdose if they so much as come in contact with it or inhale it.

Increasingly, it’s not just the users who are at risk.

Now, police and first responders are in harm’s way, due to the powerful additives that are increasingly showing up in the heroin flooding our streets.

Just last month officials in Montgomery County seized a huge cache of fentanyl.

We’ve identified the problem. We’re helping the victims. We’re even bringing many of them back from death’s door.

Now we’re looking to protect the officers in an increasingly dangerous battle.

If it saves even one, this $50,000 gadget will be worth every penny.

The fentanyl death rate has doubled in just one year from 2015 to 2016, according to the CDC. And, Pennsylvania is among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.