Gwinnett Deputies Equipped With Drug Overdose Antidote

Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office has begun issuing life-saving medication to deputies to help treat drug overdoses during emergencies.

The agency said in a news release that naloxone hydrochloride (also known as Narcan) will be used by personnel operating marked units and first responders assigned to courts and jails. Naloxone is a prescription drug intended to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

“Naloxone may be injected in the muscle, vein or under the skin or sprayed into the nose and has been used in hospitals and ambulances for decades as an antidote for opioid drugs such as heroin, morphine, oxycodone (Oxycontin), methadone, hydrocodone (Vicodin), codeine and other prescription pain medications. Naloxone only works if a person has opioids in their system; the medication has no effect if opioids are absent,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release.

The acquisition of naloxone is another measure Sheriff Butch Conway has taken to “promote the safety and well-being of his constituents,” the news release said.

In October 2014, all Gwinnett County Sheriff patrol vehicles were equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs), a portable device that is used to treat sudden cardiac arrest.

Acquiring Naloxone has been in the works since last September, when the sheriff attended an anti-prescription drug abuse initiative hosted by Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens at a Gwinnett County high school.

Both the Naloxone ($4,100) and AEDs ($99,500) were purchased with drug forfeiture funds, the sheriff’s office said