Local first responders’ newest weapon in the fight against an epidemic of drug overdoses may be a nasal spray.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office has equipped its deputies with a nasal spray containing Narcan, a trademarked name for naloxene, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone or similar painkiller drugs.
Other first responders are following suit, and within a year almost all police, fire and EMT personnel in Hamilton County should be trained in how to use the spray, said Ken Wilkerson, the county’s director of Emergency Medical Services.
Getting an effective antidote to an overdose into the hands of the people most likely to first encounter the drugs could save lives, Wilkerson said.
The spray also will protect officers from accidentally being affected by drugs, he said. Increasingly, first responders are encountering fentanyl, a powerful opioid that is often mixed with heroin. Fentanyl can be hundreds of times more powerful than heroin, Wilkerson said, and can be absorbed through the skin.