Holmdel Police Save Man's Life with Narcan

Holmdel, NJ - Holmdel police saved a man's life using Narcan earlier this week at a Richards Way home, the department announced Friday afternoon.

At 11:298 a.m. on Monday, March 7, Holmdel police responded to a home on Richards Way for a report of a possible drug overdose. Officers found a man unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing.

The officers administered a dose of Narcan and began CPR. But there was no change in his condition, so he was administered three additional doses of Narcan as officers continued CPR.

Soon after that, the man regained a pulse and began breathing on his own. Holmdel First Aid arrived and he was taken to Bayshore Community Hospital.

Has Narcan created a drug-abuse safety net?

Because the man was taken to the hospital for further treatment, he was not charged for a drug-related crime due to New Jersey's Overdose Prevention Act.

However, some police officers argue Narcan is being used too often and creates a sort of safety net for heroin users.

“We’ve had people that have literally been ‘Narcanned’ in excess of five to 10 times,” Toms River Police Chief Mitchell Little told 10101Wins on March 3. “We are criticized sometimes, like how many times are you going to Narcan somebody?"

Little is asking NJ lawmakers to insert a clause in the law that says if an overdose victim is saved by Narcan and refuses further medical treatment, that person can be arrested and prosecuted, reports 1010Wins.

Narcan is given either by an intramuscular injection into the arm, thigh or buttocks, or via a nasal spray. The drug can revive an unconscious person within 5 minutes, and often much quicker than that. Narcan works by knocking out of the opiate receptors in the brain. Many police departments now carry Narcan syringes, or, in some bigger cities, the nasal spray.

Image: “Naloxone (1)“ by Intropin - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons