Friday, April 18, 2014

Let there be no doubt, the US Attorney General's administration is about protecting life and not ending it unjustly.

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (click here) called on police and fire departments Wednesday to equip their employees with a lifesaving drug that can reverse heroin overdoses, adding his voice to a growing chorus advocating expanded naloxone access.

"Today, I'm calling on all first responders -- including state and local law enforcement agencies -- to train and equip their men and women on the front lines to use the overdose-reversal drug known as naloxone," Holder said in remarks prepared for a speech in front of the Police Executive Research Forum.

Seventeen states in places as varied as North Carolina and New York have passed legislation expanding naloxone access. But in other places, the drug has met with strong opposition, with critics arguing that it could give addicts a false sense of security, and that it could be dangerous in the hands of non-medical professionals. Medical research, however, shows that naloxone leads to little risk compensation behavior among addicts, and that so-called lay administration has proved highly successful....

Naloxone (Narcan) returns normal breathing to overdoes victims. It is not about substituting one drug for another or altering the mind of an overdose victim. This is called an Opioid Antagonist.

Once administered the victim will feel any pain they normally can't control. That doesn't mean the officers or responders should seek to alleviate the pain so much as transport as quickly as possible. 

Narcan (naloxone) does wear off and if there is still lethal levels of the overdose drug in the victim's blood stream or otherwise they could require a second dose of Narcan. It is important to quickly transport overdose victims to an emergency room. They might have to have the drugs removed from their stomachs or require a respirator. Narcan is an important drug, but, isn't necessarily the end of the overdose danger. 

Narcan is vitally important, especially these days with such high level of heroine being found in our society.

Naloxone (also known as Narcan®) (click here) is a medication called an “opioid antagonist” used to counter the effects of opioid overdose, for example morphine and heroin overdose. Specifically, naloxone is used in opioid overdoses to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally....