NYPD receives funding to equip officers with life-saving heroin antidote naloxone

[struggle4progress]

By Rande Iaboni, CNN
updated 4:10 PM EDT, Tue May 27, 2014

(CNN) -- The New York Police Department, the largest police force in the United States, announced Tuesday that it has received funding to equip close to 20,000 officers with naloxone, a heroin antidote that can instantly reverse the effects of an overdose.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared that his office would provide the funding of more than $1.1 million to equip and train the NYPD officers as part of the Community Overdose Prevention Program.

"By providing NYPD police officers with naloxone, we are making this stunningly effective overdose antidote available in every corner of the five boroughs. This program will literally save lives," Schneiderman said at a press conference.

Each naloxone kit consists of a zip bag or pouch containing two pre-filled syringes of naloxone, two atomizers for nasal administration, sterile gloves and a booklet on the use of the drug, according to a statement from Schneiderman's office ...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/us/new-york-police-heroin-antidote/

[Warpy]

1. Not sure this is such a great idea

I can see cops using the stuff on anyone they suspect is a junkie, throwing them into intense withdrawal for shits and giggles.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. It is good harm reduction practice. It provably saves lives.

NYPD's well-deserved bad reputation notwithstanding.

[joeybee12]

3. As long as they're trained well it should be good...but...

Look how well they're trained with their guns.

[951-Riverside]

4. How long until one of these goons use it some sleeping homeless person?

I don't trust these tubby goons with determining who is under the influence then administering medication.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. It is used on people actively dying of opiate overdoses.

Gee, I loathe cops as much as anybody, but this is a good and humane move. And it's not just NYPD. Police forces and EMTS all over the country are getting on board with this...because IT SAVES LIVES.

What is also needed are laws that allow friends and family members of opiate users to have it on hand. Some states have such laws, many still don't.

[951-Riverside]

6. We were told Tasers would save lives and body cameras would hold police officers accountable.

I'm done buying it. This will be abused without a doubt.

Tubby abusive NYPD goons administering medicine, gee what could possibly go wrong?

[img][/img]

Edit: I've edited my post, I was a bit too snippy. I apologize.

[Comrade Grumpy]

7. "Naloxone Reverses Drug Overdoses, Saves 10,000 Lives"

What could possibly go wrong? They might save somebody's life, that's what.

As I said above, I loathe the cops as much as anybody, but this is a good move. Even if, in your nightmare scenario, some cops find a way to abuse it, it is going to SAVE LIVES.

If you want cops to have less responsibility for reversing overdoses, argue and agitate for naloxone to be made available to friends and families of opiate users. But your position here is just stupid.

http://reason.com/blog/2012/02/21/naloxone-reverses-drug-overdoses-saves10

Since 1996, naloxone has reversed 10,171 drug overdoses, saving thousands of lives, according to a new study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Naloxone hydrochloride (also known as Narcan) stops an overdose on opiates and helps restore regular breathing and consciousness. Once injected, naloxone can reverse an overdose as quickly as under a minute. Since naloxone is an opiate antagonist, it's not effective to stop an overdose on cocaine, alcohol, or benzodiazepines.

First approved by the FDA in the 1970s, naloxone was used only in emergency rooms and ambulances. But thanks to community-based programs, the drug has seen wider distribution in 15 states and Washington, D.C. According to the CDC, there is a direct correlation between harm reduction policies and saving lives:

Nineteen (76.0%) of the 25 states with 2008 drug overdose death rates higher than the median and nine (69.2%) of the 13 states in the highest quartile did not have a community-based opioid overdose prevention program that distributed naloxone.

Nationwide, drug overdose deaths have tripled since 1990. In 2008, there were over 36,000 drug overdose deaths. This actually topped car crashes as the leading cause of accidental deaths. That same year, more than 20,000 people died from a prescription painkiller overdose. Nevertheless, Eliza Wheeler, one of the authors of the report and program manager at the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), was ultimately optimistic:

Thousands of fatal overdoses occur every year, but this report shows that we can reduce overdose deaths by giving members of the community the right information, training, and tools.

[951-Riverside]

9. I don't buy into this "greater good" sales pitch.

I would be fine with this if police officers were held accountable for criminal behavior or mistakes but they rarely are. You've got a bunch of crazy people running around beating and shooting people on video without consequence so there is no doubt in my mind that this will be abused.

I have no problem with medical personnel having this.

your position here is just stupid.

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Ok, I give. Fuck those junkies. Better they die than a cop saves them. Jesus Christ.

You may have noticed me posting repeatedly on police brutality/killing threads. I'm not a big fan of cops. But getting naloxone into their hands is going to save lives.

As I said above, it would be even better if friends and family members of opiate users had access to this stuff, but New York isn't there yet.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. What you left out and why giving to cops is typical authoritarian bullshit.

Indeed, naloxone has enormous potential to save even more lives: Almost three-quarters of the drug overdoses in 2008 were from opiates. Because of this, Sharon Stancliff, the medical director of the HRC, wants naloxone to be sold over-the-counter. Time magazine explains the reasoning:

The drug is safe and nonaddictive and it cannot be misused (indeed, it blocks the action of opioids, so it produces the opposite of a high), and so the more places it is available, the more likely that it will be within reach when needed. The possibility of a wider market would also be likely to spur more manufacturing of the drug

Naloxone should be available to *junkies*. Cops will use it as part of putting junkies in jail.

[Comrade Grumpy]

12. Well, yes, it is. Naloxone should be available to opiate users, and friends and family members.

Why don't you convince the legislature of that?

In the meantime, this is putting a drug that SAVES LIVES in the hands of 20,000 cops in New York City.

The merely good is not always the enemy of the perfect.

I can't believe this conversation.

[whistler162]

19. Kinda redundant in NY since that was

part of the legislation that just passed.

http://www.vocal-ny.org/press-release/pr-new-york-senate-passes-lifesaving-overdose-prevention-bill-to-expand-naloxone-access/

but keep up the diatribe.

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. Well, that is good news and as it should be.

And thank you for mentioning it. I will keep up the diatribe.

[LeftyMom]

14. This is the correct answer.

Also any lifesaving program that relies on trust between cops and drug addicts is doomed to failure. Even if cops could be trusted not to turn emergencies into new opportunities to arrest addicts (yeah, right) the chances of convincing addicts to trust cops would be smaller still.

[Comrade Grumpy]

17. You don't need a lot of convincing when you're unconscious and turning blue.

In fact, you better hope somebody called the cops or an EMT or somebody.

Even if the cops were to use this as an opportunity to arrest addicts, what then? You have on living addict with legal problems, as opposed to one dead addict.

Good lord, I think drugs should be legal and the war on drugs ended. And I don't like cops. And I'm reasonably cynical, but the responses on this thread are blowing my mind.

[LeftyMom]

18. Who do you think is around when people OD? It's usually other addicts.

Addicts, of course, are really fearful of police interactions.

Hell, people who've OD'd get dumped at ERs all the time. Addicts are usually too afraid to hang around at *hospitals*, and people think they're going to run off and fetch the NYPD, of all people?

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. That's why we need 911 Good Samaritan Laws.

They provide an exemption from prosecution for overdosing addicts and people seeking help for them.

New York state passed a 911 Good Samaritan law in 2011:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Fact_Sheet_State_based_Overdose_Prevention_Legislation_April2014.pdf

Of course, it's one thing to have such a law, and it's another for junkies to be aware of it. That's why harm reductionists do all they can to spread awareness of such laws among drug-using populations in states that have them.

At any rate, now in New York City, if you're dying of a drug overdose, your buddy can call the cops and they can come revive you, and neither you nor your buddy are going to jail.

[LeftyMom]

22. It's a third thing to trust the NYPD to act in good faith.

Officers get evaluated on their arrest rate. They don't get evaluated on their implementation of harm reduction best practices.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. You know what? I know all this stuff, and I still think it's a good thing.

Do you want police officer to NOT carry a life-saving overdose reversal drug?

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. You ought to ask Sharon Stancliff if she supports this move.

Every harm reductionist I've spoken to does, and I speak to them regularly.

I speak to Sharon, too, on occasion, and I'm confident she's all for this. Even if she wants greater access, too.

If you're worried about cops putting ODing junkies in jail, there are a couple of things you can do: Support 911 Good Samaritan laws, under which overdosers and the people who report them are protected from drug possession charges, and support decriminalizing drug possession. Those are ongoing struggles that can make a difference.

[KurtNYC]

8. Good. This is pragmatic and gives first responders another tool to save lives.

For those who have never been to NYC you should come once. It is not at all what you think it is -- people care about each other and about total strangers. People including the cops, are very social and approachable, always ready to have fun or share their opinion. We start conversations with strangers in the middle, usually a question like "did you see that guy just almost get run over?"

[Jefferson23]

13. With training and monitoring, this could work. n/t

[JVS]

16. They should equip the drug dealers and addicts. Most people use drugs as far from cops as possible.

[whistler162]

21. Since the just passed legislation, NY, is why

the Police, EMS, and families have increased to Naxolene it is good.

http://www.vocal-ny.org/press-release/pr-new-york-senate-passes-lifesaving-overdose-prevention-bill-to-expand-naloxone-access/