State Police to Carry Anti-Overdose Drug

Pennsylvania troopers will soon add a new tool to their arsenal of life-saving equipment, one that state and local officials hope will make a significant difference in the state’s drug overdose mortality rates.

Gov. Tom Wolf will announce this week at a press conference that he is directing the state police to carry the anti-overdose drug called naloxone, the Delaware County Daily Times reports. Also known as Narcan, the nasal spray combats the effects of an overdose from an opioid, such as heroin or certain prescription drugs.

“I have directed Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine to write a ’standing order’ for naloxone for the Commonwealth,” writes Wolf in an Op-Ed published in the Delco Times. “It will act as a prescription that allows every Pennsylvania citizen to get naloxone.”

Overdoses from heroin and prescription drugs has rapidly increased in the last decade in the Greater Philadelphia/South Jersey region, according to the Morning Call. The number in the seven counties surrounding Philadelphia jumped from 310 deaths in 1999 to 781 deaths in 2013.

The Center for Disease Control’s 2014 study on the overdose epidemic conflates the increase to rising sales of prescription painkillers.

“From 1999 to 2013, the amount of painkillers, called opioids, prescribed and sold in the U.S. have nearly quadrupled, and overdose deaths have quadrupled in lock-step,” the study says.

The numbers reveal trends that many families in Pennsylvania are tragically well-aware, such as the Massi family in Chester County. Lynne Massi spent 14 months lobbying for the implementation of David’s Law, named after her nephew, David John Massi II, who died in January 2013 of a drug overdose.

Gov. Tom Corbett signed the bill in September 2014, permitting Pennsylvania first responders to administer Narcan during emergency overdose incidents. Since its passage, municipal and county-level police and EMTs have used the drug to save lives.

Wolf highlights Delaware County’s successful use of Narcan in his Op-Ed, saying that 31 deaths have been prevented since District Attorney Jack Whelan oversaw the program that placed a kit in patrol vehicles and trained officers on their use.