By JIMMY LAWTON

At least five lives have been saved in the past two years by St. Lawrence County police officers and rescuers who administered the naloxone people suffering drug overdoses.

Also known by its brand name Narcan, naloxone is administered as a nasal spray to an individual who has overdosed on opiates or opioids such as heroin and prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and fentanyl. It works by temporarily reversing the effects of the drugs, whether illicit or prescription, allowing the individual to regain consciousness and resume normal breathing.

With opioid use on the rise in St. Lawrence County, more and more police agencies have begun to carry the drug.

Canton and Potsdam were among the first agencies to carry Naloxone, even though Massena and Ogdensburg have experienced the most opiate abuse cases in St. Lawrence County.

Potsdam has not yet had any officers administer the drug, but village and university police in Canton have both administered naloxone.

St. Lawrence County sheriff’s deputies, however, do not carry naloxone. Just one officer in Massena has been trained to administer the antidote, while in Ogdensburg and Gouverneur rescue squad members handle that responsibility, not police officers.

College Towns Prepared

Canton Police Chief Lori McDougal said she supports all officers carrying Naloxone and is hopeful that when it is administered the person who is saved may see it as an opportunity to quit using.

“Our department does carry it and we have been since November of 2014. I believe we have only used it twice since that date,” she said.

SUNY Canton University Police were the first agency in the county to acquire and train for Naloxone.

Recently, officer Seth A. Filiatrault was honored for administering the drug at an off-campus residence in November of 2015.

University Police Chief Alan P. Mulkin says his agency jumped on the training when it was offered by the state in 2014 and has been proactive in helping other agencies get on board. He says anything that helps save lives is worth carrying. He compared naloxone to a defibrillator as just one of may tools that can keep people alive.

“I think it’s a very worthwhile program. Opiate addiction is a terrible thing, and until there are a lot more resources, we could be facing it for along time. It’s pretty rare here that we deal with an overdose, but even if it’s only used once it’s worthwhile.”

University and village Potsdam are also onboard with naloxone, but neither agency has had to administer it yet. Potsdam Police Chief Kevin Bates says he glad his officers are prepared to help people in need. He said anything that can be used to save lives is a positive for his department.

Outbreak in Massena

In Massena where opiates have hit St. Lawrence County the hardest, acting chief Adam Love says the Naloxone is a great tool for officers. Love says he’d like to see his entire force carrying the drug, but currently only one officer is qualified to administer it.

Love says the naloxone training is now taught at the academy. He said the only officer on the force that is trained to administer the drug is a recent graduate who came on in September of 2015.

“The officer that administered it was absolutely amazed. The man was only breathing twice a minute when he arrived and within just a few seconds he could see the color start to come back,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Unfortunately Love says overdose calls occur on a near daily basis in Massena and there are no signs of that decreasing. He says heroin use is rampant and often begins with use of prescription drugs like Oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine and fentanyl.

“People start off on prescription opiates. They aren’t as afraid of them. But those can cost $80 for one pill, heroin is a lot cheaper so then they switch to that,” he said. “People have bad days and they use it and become addicted, but it’s so hard to come off. It takes significant time and effort.”

Love said that the drug problem is so bad in Massena his officers are routinely called to pick up used hypodermic needles. He said in once instance a Massena school student was accidently stuck with a discarded needle. Since then, the police and superintendent have held awareness meetings notifying students and staff to call police for disposal.

“Our officers have special gloves we use to dispose of the needles,” he said.

Not Quite There

Despite the apparent effectiveness, some police agencies do not carry naloxone.

Ogdensburg City Police officers do not carry the antidote, although Chief Andrew Kennedy said the Ogdensburg Volunteer Rescue Squad and fire department do. Kennedy said the decision not to carry it was made by the past chief Richard Polniak. OVRS confirmed they had administered naloxone in Ogdensburg, but did not share specifics regarding the number of times it had been used.

The story is similar in Gouverneur where Police Chief Laurina Greenhill says her officers do not carry naloxone, but says members of the Gouverneur Rescue Squad have administered the drug.

St. Lawrence County Sheriff deputies do not carry naloxone either, but Sheriff Kevin Wells says it’s something his department is exploring.

“We have trained staff, but we do not currently carry naloxone. (We) are looking at some model policies and working through some issues,” Wells said.

Although the sheriff’s department isn’t carrying naloxone yet, a state police public information officer says all troopers in the St. Lawrence County area carry the drug and are trained to administer it.

“The state police continually train and equip our members to stay on top of dangerous trends or threats that may affect New Yorkers. Our troopers see first-hand the devastating effects of heroin and other opiates on individuals, families and communities,” New York State Police Superintendent Joseph A. D’Amico said in a released statement.

Citizen’s Training

While first responders, police agencies and emergency medical technicians are more commonly carrying Naloxone, it is legal for anyone with the proper with training to carry and administer the drug. In Massena, local support group Comrades of Hope has a training scheduled on April 24 at the Massena Community Center at 2 p.m.

Massena Mayor Tim Currier has also trumpeted the call to getting citizen’s access to naloxone, as Massena battles an opiate epidemic.

"The only way we can solve this problem is to address it from every angle, to include prevention, education, enforcement and treatment," he said. "Unless someone truly understands opiate addiction and the challenge those in recovery face, they can't fully appreciate or understand the need to get naloxone in the hands of citizens. Naloxone is proven to save lives and given the number of deaths we are seeing as a result of this epidemic, we must take this important step."

In June of 2014 Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law new regulations for the New York State Department of Health outlining rules that allow people who use drugs, their friends, and family to get the overdose antidote naloxone from community groups and pharmacies without needing a doctor present to write a prescription.

In 2013, there were 89,269 cases of heroin and prescription opioid treatment admissions in New York state alone, an increase from 63,793 in 2004. During this same time period, the drug also disproportionately impacted New Yorkers ranging in age from 18 to 24.

Requests for local data related opiate and opioid overdose deaths in St. Lawrence County were not returned by Health Department officials. However, at least nine deaths were confirmed as fatal overdoses in St. Lawrence County in 2014 and a similar number have been confirmed in 2015.