UNDATED (WSAU) -- Recent changes in state law allow police to carry the antidote naloxone for heroin overdoses, commonly called Narcan... but don’t expect to find it in area squad cars soon.
The law authored by Representative John Nygren was passed by Governor Scott Walker last month, and permits more levels of emergency medical service workers and police officers to carry and administer the medicine.
Melissa Dotter with Marathon County’s Pushback Against Drugs campaign hopes to see it carried by officers.
Dotter says one of the concerns about carrying Narcan is that it is expensive, and has a limited shelf life. “As with any prescription, there is a ‘use by’ date on it, so there’s always going to be that concern. As far as the cost and stuff go, I think that we have quite a bit of community support, that we might be looking at some (outside) funds if it’s not eligible to be in the budget.”
Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks says he’s aware of the new law permitting officers to carry Narcan, but they’re not looking at doing so at this time. “We haven’t considered it yet. We probably have to do some more research on a number of different things and move on from there.”
Portage County Chief Deputy Sheriff Daniel Kontos does not expect to see Narcan in county squads. “We’ve got a very robust EMS system here, so our plans are to let the EMS professionals handle that. There are a lot of other things we need to be concerned about when we go to these kind of incidents, so we want to make sure our deputies aren’t getting tied down with the medical system while we’ve got medical professionals right there with them. I think we’re going to let the medical folks handle those right now.”
Wausau Police Chief Jeff Hardel is taking the same approach, to let paramedics continue to manage Narcan. “The paramedic service is on site within minutes. Sometimes, they’re even there because dispatch dispatches us both, so I think that because of their short response (time),we might be hesitant to take on that extra duty, but it’s something we should probably look at and at least vet out before we make a decision.”
Naloxone has been added to some squad cars in Wisconsin. The first county sheriff’s department to add the heroin antidote to every vehicle was Racine county earlier this month.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia allow distribution of naloxone to the general public with appropriate training.