Oneonta EMS crews have saved five lives this year by administering Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of opiates such as heroin, the fire chief said this week. Between Jan. 2 and 19, the Oneonta Fire Department had 11 calls for possible substance abuse or accidental poisoning, Patrick Pidgeon, city fire chief said. "This is just a very unusual amount," Pidgeon said Thursday. Six patients were treated by emergency medical services crews with Narcan, Pidgeon said, and for five of those patients the drug caused a positive reaction by reversing the respiratory distress caused by an opiate. In the sixth case, the results of giving Narcan had inconclusive results, he said. [continues 496 words]
Two area men with serious, chronic medical conditions will join an assemblyman in Albany today to urge passage of a Senate bill allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. "We're hopeful," said Bruce Dunn, of Morris, from a hotel in Albany on Monday night. He and Richard Williams, of Richmondville, will join other patients and Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried, D-Manhattan, who will announce a television advertising campaign seeking Senate approval of a bill before the lawmakers adjourn June 23. Later, patients will lobby their senators, according to a media advisory from Gottfried and the Marijuana Police Project in Washington, D.C. [continues 637 words]
