IMPD effort will put heroin antidote into the hands of officers

A resurgence in heroin use is troubling local law enforcement officials, but efforts to combat the problem are underway, starting with the front-line police officers themselves.

Beginning next month, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is piloting a new program that puts a life-saving heroin and opioid prescription drug antidote in the hands of officers. The drug, naloxone, comes in the form of a nasal spray capable of reversing an opioid overdose.

The program was formulated in response to an alarming statistic: Last year, the city recorded 95 heroin overdose deaths, a number that has more than doubled since 2011, Indianapolis Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said.

“That’s a lot of people needlessly losing their lives,” Riggs said. “The main reason we’re doing this is we value human life. If we can save a life, that’s a win for us. We cannot be apathetic.”

While allowing police officers to administer naloxone is new to Indianapolis, the drug itself is not. Developed in the 1960s by pharmaceutical company Sankyo, naloxone has been in use by emergency medical crews for years, including in Indianapolis. Other metropolitan police departments, such as Chicago, have similar programs.

Here’s how the drug works:

When a person uses heroin or another opioid, such as morphine or oxycodone, breathing slows down. In large doses, these drugs can stop breathing altogether, causing death one to three hours after a user takes a fatal hit.

Naloxone blocks those effects, quickly allowing the person to start breathing normally again.

“Sometimes you can see the blue literally just disappear,” said Lt. Scott Campbell with Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services.. “And then they’re awake. It’s pretty awesome.”

Naloxone also sends the person into withdrawal. Experts say the near-death experience and uncomfortable side effects may deter people from continuing to abuse drugs.

“It’s not a pleasant feeling,” said Kathie Kane-Willis, the director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University in Chicago. “For people who are reversed from an overdose, it can be a life-changing moment.”

The drug is also benign: If the person administering naloxone uses too much, or uses it on someone who hasn’t really overdosed on an opioid, it’s not likely to have a bad effect, Campbell said.

Although Campbell said the drug’s effectiveness is powerful, its use among medical personnel is concerning. Last year, IEMS crews used naloxone 628 times on overdose victims, a 17 percent increase from 2012.

That, experts say, is a problem reflected nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of people who died from a heroin overdose increased 55 percent from 2000 to 2010.

“Distribution, availability, purity and cost of heroin has made it an easy drug of choice,” said Aaron Kochar, the director of prevention and education for Porter-Starke Services, a Valparaiso-based mental health facility. “As we’ve cracked down on the illicit use of prescription drugs, we haven’t solved the addiction. They’re switching over to heroin.”

In Indianapolis, Riggs said the first officers to have access to naloxone will be in the city’s southwest district. It’s an area Riggs said is particularly notable for the number of heroin-related deaths.

Riggs acknowledged the program is not foolproof, adding that he is unsure how many overdoses the officers will be able to reverse.

“We’re optimistic, but let’s see where the program takes us,” Riggs said. “If it does prove successful, we’re committed to finding a way to make this something we can do throughout the city of Indianapolis by the end of the year.”

Riggs said the city will continue looking at other solutions to the heroin problem, including community outreach and increasing the availability of social services programs.

“At the end of the day, it becomes an individual choice,” Riggs said. “I do not want anyone to misinterpret that this is a cure for all this. It is one of many steps we still have to take as a community.”

Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.