|
 Police told the man that he could get the anti-overdose drug they
had used, naloxone, from Manet Community Health Center in Quincy,
Massachusetts.
"He was just amazed at the stuff," said Nicoli, a prevention
specialist at Manet. "He came in the next day and I trained him and
sent him home with naloxone."
Manet is one of 19 medical sites around Massachusetts that dispenses
the life-saving drug to family members of substance abusers,
community outreach workers and even addicts themselves.
The program is part of a state initiative to take on what U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder has called an "urgent and growing
public health crisis" of abuse of heroin and other opioid drugs, a
class that includes many prescription painkillers.
Quincy, Massachusetts, in 2010 became the first U.S. city to make
the drug standard equipment for its police officers, who have used
it to reverse some 275 overdoses, a significant number in a city of
93,000 people. Police forces nationwide are starting to follow suit.
The state program has now moved far beyond police, training some
25,747 people in Massachusetts how to recognize the signs of opioid
drug overdoses and administer naloxone.
Those people have collectively reversed 2,982 overdoses since the
state in 2008 started small trials of the "bystander" program,
providing civilians with training and naloxone.
The version of the drug used in Massachusetts comes in a small
dispenser the size of a Magic Marker. A dose has no effect on a
person whose system contains no opioids. But the results are
dramatic for someone whose breathing has almost stopped due to an
overdose.
"It's surreal," said Detective Lieutenant Patrick Glynn of the
Quincy Police Department, seen as the driving force behind the
city's program. "You go from dealing with someone who is dead.
They're not breathing, they're not responsive. And in 30 seconds, 90
seconds, they're up and talking to you.”
'MODEL FOR OTHER STATES'
Police forces across the United States are following Quincy's lead.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo last week said he would provide
naloxone to first responders statewide.
"It is certainly a model for other states and is being embraced
across the country," said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for
America's Health, a nonpartisan research group.
Nationwide, more than 50,000 concerned citizens have been trained by
188 community groups, and have collectively reversed 10,000
overdoses, according to the trust.
The advantage to the program is a simple matter of speed, said
Hilary Jacobs, director of substance abuse services at the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
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"We wanted to issue naloxone to people who were using or were likely
to witness an overdose, the people who were going to be first on the
scene," Jacobs said.
Massachusetts recorded 668 deaths from accidental overdoses of
opioid drugs in 2012, the highest number on record. Preliminary data
show the state headed for another high in 2013.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Tuesday will convene a
summit on the issue with four other New England governors: Vermont's
Peter Shumlin, Connecticut's Dannel Malloy, Rhode Island's Lincoln
Chafee and New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan.
The region's one Republican governor, Paul LePage of Maine, will not
be attending. A spokeswoman cited a scheduling conflict, but LePage
has said the antidote provides drug users an "excuse to stay
addicted" and had threatened to veto a bill expanding naloxone
access.
He relented in April, allowing the bill to go into effect without
his signature.
A bigger worry for advocates is supply. A handful of U.S. companies
produce naloxone, including privately held kaleo Inc, whose
cellphone-size device for administering the drug received Food and
Drug Administration approval in April and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals
Inc, which in May filed initial paperwork to sell stock to the
public.
Britain's Reckitt Benckiser Group last month said it plans to
develop a nasal version of the drug.
Alexander Walley, an associate professor of medicine at Boston
University's School of Medicine who also serves as medical director
of the state's opioid overdose prevention program, said supply was a
concern.
"We've had a couple of periods where we have been worried about
supply. It hasn't been rationed but it's a generic drug and there's
only a few suppliers," he said.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by David Gregorio)
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