Pubdate: Fri, 30 May 2014
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jacques Gallant
Page: GT5
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/naloxone

T.O. COPS URGED TO GET OVERDOSE ANTIDOTE

New York Cops to Carry Naloxone, Doctors Say Drug Can Save Lives Here, Too

The recent announcement that New York police officers will soon carry 
an antidote to counteract the effects of an overdose has led to calls 
for Toronto police to adopt a similar practice.

More than half of New York's police force - 19,500 officers - will be 
equipped with naloxone, a drug that can temporarily reverse an opioid 
overdose for up to 45 minutes, allowing enough time to get the drug 
user to hospital.

"This program will literally save lives," said New York attorney 
general Eric Schneiderman in a statement earlier this week.

Overdoses from opioids, which include powerful painkillers like 
OxyNEO and fentanyl, have become one of the leading causes of 
accidental death in Ontario.

Allowing police officers to carry naloxone would greatly increase its 
availability. The provincial government has been criticized for being 
too slow in its rollout of a naloxone distribution program and for 
only giving the drug to needle exchange programs, which critics say 
will target just a small minority of the people who need it.

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said the force's procedure is to 
not allow officers to administer drugs, with the exception of an EpiPen.

He said there is currently no interest in looking into the 
possibility of having officers carry naloxone, adding "we're always 
examining our procedures and so I can't rule anything out."

The Office of the Chief Coroner reported 578 opioid overdose deaths 
in Ontario in 2012, compared with 344 just four years earlier.

The use of fentanyl, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine 
and was mainly intended for palliative care patients in extreme pain, 
is particularly on the rise. There were 116 deaths in Ontario in 
2012, versus 45 in 2008.

"I think that anything that expands access to naloxone is helpful and 
very good," said Dr. Rita Shahin, Toronto's associate medical officer 
of health. She said she would be very supportive of having Toronto 
Public Health train police officers on how to use the antidote.

Naloxone kits typically contain two vials of the drug with syringes 
and gloves, and cost as little as $25. Since Toronto Public Health 
launched its own naloxone program in 2011, it has given out over 
1,000 kits, and at least 150 have been reported as successfully used, 
said Shahin.

After OxyContin was removed from the Canadian market in 2012 as the 
number of addicts skyrocketed, the Ontario government launched a 
naloxone distribution model in the face of reports that users were 
shifting toward more potent opioids. The distribution model was 
abruptly put on hold last spring due to red tape. Since October, a 
new government program has sent 1,330 vials of naloxone to 10 needle 
exchange programs and hepatitis C teams, according to a Ministry of 
Health spokesman. But with opioid addiction now affecting anyone from 
a senior citizen with extreme back pain to a young person 
experimenting with drugs, harm-reduction experts say the province's 
program is far too small, and naloxone will still not reach the 
majority of the people who need it. A further obstacle is the fact 
that, while a physician technically can prescribe naloxone, most 
pharmacies don't keep it in stock and it is not covered by the province.

"It's completely inadequate . . . It needs to be available through 
the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan," said Dr. Mel Kahan, medical director 
of the substance use service at Women's College Hospital, who said 
having Toronto police carry naloxone would be "a terrific idea." For 
now, the medication can only be given to a person who uses drugs, the 
thinking being that drug users tend to shoot up in groups and can use 
naloxone on a friend in trouble. Kahan and other physicians are 
advocating for naloxone to be given to anyone, especially family and 
friends of drug users, as is already done in the U.S.

- - With files from The Associated Press
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom