Article

2017-07-09 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Sheriff at heart of Ohio's opioid epidemic bans deputies from carrying Narcan, anti-overdose drug

[Wash Times] Drugs overdoses killed nearly 200 people last year in Butler County, Ohio, but its sheriff is standing by his decision not to let deputies carry Narcan, a life-saving drug used to revive dying opioid users.

"I don’t do Narcan," Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jonestold The Cincinnati Inquirer on Thursday.

"They never carried it," he said of his deputies. "Nor will they. That’s my stance."

Amid a nationwide opioid crisis, Ohio’s Butler County in particular has suffered substantially. Butler witnessed a record 192 drug overdose deaths in 2016 and is currently on pace to shatter that statistic in 2017. Its coroner’s office saw 96 fatal overdoses during the first three months of the year, including 80 involving opiates, officials announced recently.

Yet while deputies in surrounding Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties all carry Narcan, Butler’s top cop said he’s opposed to following suit.

Posted by Besoeker 2017-07-09 03:38|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 My part of the world -- an outer suburb of Cincinnati that has everything from Section 8 apartment complexes to McMansions in the $1.9 million range.

Narcan prices have gone up considerably, according to the Daily Beast:

The auto-inject version of the drug that used to cost $575 for two doses now costs $3,750, according to Politico. The generic, Naloxone, isn’t much better: pre-crisis, the drug cost $1.84 per dose. Now, the drug costs 17 times that.

And opioid overdoses have gone up significantly, too, in part because users trust they will be repeatedly be saved from death by police and EMTs carrying the stuff.

Posted by trailing wife 2017-07-09 11:38|| 2017-07-09 11:38|| Front Page Top

#2 At some point there's gonna be a lawsuit when an overdose victim dies because narcan isn't available. Of course, the "deep pockets" in that situation will be the drug companies and the taxpayers.

Posted by M. Murcek 2017-07-09 11:41|| 2017-07-09 11:41|| Front Page Top

#3 "users trust they will be repeatedly be saved from death by police and EMTs carrying the stuff"
If "users" were able to think that far ahead, they wouldn't be "users". However, saving them from death enables them to die again. And again.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-07-09 13:16|| 2017-07-09 13:16|| Front Page Top

#4 there's gonna be a lawsuit when an overdose victim dies because narcan isn't available That is why we have legistlatures, to pass laws to cover these eventualities. Laws to exempt anyone from legal liability for using naloxone in a good faith effort to revive a supposed opioid overdoser, laws to exempt organizations from lawfare if naloxone isn't available or doesn't work the way it's supposed to. I know legislative work like this will cut into the time legislators have to collect boodle and get re-elected.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-07-09 13:19|| 2017-07-09 13:19|| Front Page Top

#5 LE needs it for those who accidentally come into contact with it. Today's stuff is that potent.

Posted by gorb 2017-07-09 14:17|| 2017-07-09 14:17|| Front Page Top

06:59 Procopius2k
06:57 Skidmark
06:55 Skidmark
06:53 Skidmark
06:53 Procopius2k
06:49 Skidmark
06:48 M. Murcek
06:48 Procopius2k
06:47 Skidmark
06:46 Skidmark
06:39 NN2N1
06:37 Frank G
06:37 Skidmark
06:35 Eohippus Smiter of the Faith3343
06:34 Skidmark
06:31 Grom the Reflective
06:30 Gloluns Turkeyneck4904
06:27 Skidmark
06:27 Grom the Reflective
06:26 Grom the Reflective
06:25 NN2N1
06:24 Skidmark
06:22 Frank G
06:20 Grom the Reflective