Naloxone saving lives in county
Pottstown ranks first in police interventions
In a recent data report, Pottstown was listed No. 1 in Montgomery County for number of overdose victims treated with the life-saving drug naloxone by law enforcement.
Township police departments within Montgomery County together have administered naloxone to 256 people since being equipped with the overdose reversal drug, according to the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety.
Pottstown has accounted for 16 percent of those cases, having administered the drug to 42 people since the program began.
Meanwhile, neighboring townships including Douglass (Mont.), Lower Pottsgrove, Royersford, Upper Perkiomen and Upper Pottsgrove combined accounted for only 2 percent of incidents in which naloxone was administered to overdose victims by police.
Lower Providence Township Police, who administered naloxone to 27 people since the program’s inception, were listed as the second highest in Montgomery County.
Upper Merion Police Department reported using naloxone on 21 people while Abington reported naloxone use for 20 people. Norristown reported 16 overdose victims who were given the drug by police and Limerick noted 15 people.
The new data shows that the substance with the highest abuse in Montgomery County is heroin, making up 84 percent of drug abuse in the county. Of the 256 incidents in which naloxone was administered by police, 234 overdose victims survived, the report says.
In the commonwealth, there have been more than 3,000 successful saves since the enactment of David’s Law in late 2014 that gave legal clearance for law enforcement agencies to administer naloxone, according to recent statistics by the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.
David’s Law, also known as Act 139 of 2014, was the first bill of the state legislature to become law to allow police officers, and other previously restricted emergency personnel, to administer the prescription-only naloxone free of liability, and to provide immunity for people who call in an overdose. The bill was created by former state senator and current county Common Pleas Court Judge Dominic Pileggi to increase public access to the life-saving drug amidst a growing epidemic.
Opioid- and heroin-related overdoses have been increasing in the state and county according to annual reports released by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association. Drug deaths
Pottstown has accounted for 16 percent of those cases, having administered the drug to 42 people since the program began.
increased from 2,500 to 3,500 from 2014 to 2015 according to the coroners’ 2015 report on overdose statistics. Of the 3,500, heroin was found in 55 percent of all overdoses, with 30 percent involving some kind of illegal drug and 28 percent involving opioids.
Although the information did not delineate between saves from municipal department officers and those of Pennsylvania state troopers in mixedcoverage counties, county records show Pennsylvania State Police were credited with 71 saves throughout the state, according to reports by the state.
Some 74 percent of the state’s estimated 9.5 million population is in areas fully covered by police departments that carry naloxone for potential overdoses. Bradford, Lawrence, Montour and Forest counties are reported to have no police departments carrying naloxone, but are preparing to launch naloxone programs within the next few months.
The southeast Pennsylvania region – including Berks and Schuylkill counties – had the highest concentration of drug toxicities in 2015 with 1,511 of 3,500. Without Berks and Schuylkill, the number is 1,336. In Delaware County, the numbers peaked at 206 in 2015 over 147 in 2014. Numbers for 2016 have not yet been released.
After municipal police officers and the Pennsylvania State Police, Gov. Tom Wolf announced on April 12 that 300 state park and state forest rangers will also be trained and equipped to administer naloxone in on the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grounds. The department reports seven drug-related deaths in their state parks and forests since 2015.
“First responders across the commonwealth have saved more than 3,000 lives using naloxone,” Department of Health Secretary Karen Murphy said. “Knowing that all state park rangers will now have this medication and are trained to use it adds another opportunity for us to save lives and get people into treatment.”