Phila. police to begin using lifesaving drug to combat heroin overdose

On the day Officers John Todt and Edward Troy completed their training course on Narcan (naloxone) - a drug that can dramatically reverse the effects of a heroin overdose - a woman on Aramingo Avenue flagged them down as they drove past.

She pointed to a parking lot. Between two parked cars, the officers could see a woman facedown on the asphalt.

When they turned her over, she was blue in the face and barely breathing. Her eyes were open, but unfocused and unresponsive.

Troy, an eight-year veteran of the Philadelphia police force, deals with victims of drug overdoses weekly and sometimes daily. This, he said, was "the worst I've seen."

Todt and Troy had received their department-issued packs of Narcan less than half an hour earlier.

"We thought - is this really happening?" Troy recalled.

It took three doses, but the woman on Aramingo Avenue eventually woke up in the back of a patrol car as Troy and Todt rushed her to the hospital. By the time they arrived, she was able to walk herself into the emergency room.

The woman's revival was one of five such incidents since the department started issuing Narcan three weeks ago to officers in the city's East Division, which includes the drug-heavy Kensington-Allegheny corridor and typically sees the most overdoses.

The Police Department's adoption of Narcan comes as law enforcement agencies across the country are beginning to require use of the drug, largely because heroin-overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years.

Delaware County, in response to 49 heroin-related deaths in 2014, began equipping officers with the drug last year and saved 14 overdose victims in the first seven weeks of the program.

A state law that passed last fall allows police officers in Pennsylvania to administer the drug; previously, only doctors and paramedics were permitted to do so.

Narcan works specifically to reverse the effects of opioids - both heroin and prescription medications like oxycodone - and can be administered via a nasal spray.

Philadelphia has trained 104 officers in its use, with plans to train the East Division's 500 officers over the next several months.

"Our intent is that all officers will be carrying it," said Deputy Commissioner Christine Coulter at a news conference Thursday.

For now, the Fire Department, where medics already use Narcan, is supplying police with the drug.

Packs of two doses per officer for 500 officers cost about $57,000, officials said - $114 per officer.

Patrol officers who deal with overdose cases say the drug is a welcome addition - in the past, they could do little to help overdose victims beyond waiting for a medic to respond to the scene.

Now, said Troy, "it's nice to have something to help people."