DANVERS — Amid an increase in heroin and opiate-related deaths in Essex County last year, acting police Chief Patrick Ambrose announced his department has joined a growing list of those on the North Shore that have deployed nasal Narcan overdose antidote kits for officers to carry while on patrol.
There were 165 Heroin- and opiate-related deaths in Essex County in 2015, up from 85 in 2012, according to data compiled by Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and reported in The Salem News.
Danvers has seen a dramatic spike in the total number of reported overdoses in the past six years, from 10 in 2010 to 32 in 2015.
For about a month now, officers have been carrying the life-saving drug, which can reverse the effects of an overdose from heroin or other opioids, including prescription pain medications such as oxycodone. Narcan can revive someone who has stopped breathing.
Officers have the Narcan kits stowed, along with their automated external defibrillators, on all of the department's marked cruisers. They're carrying the nasal version because they often get to overdose calls before the Fire Department or an ambulance, Ambrose explained.
Read the entire Salem News article here.
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