After The Narcan Save, What's Next? Ocean County Pilot Program Aims To Break Heroin Cycle in Toms River

(PHOTO: Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato speaks at a forum on the legalization of marijuana at Brick High School on Wednesday evening. Credit: Karen Wall)

In his ongoing efforts to find solutions to the heroin epidemic in Ocean County, Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said the county is piloting a program -- first of its kind in the state and possibly the country -- that aims to get addicts into treatment.

Speaking at a marijuana forum Wednesday night at Brick Township High School, Coronato announced the program as he responded to questions written on notecards at the end of the session.

The program, which he said is in cooperation with the Barnabas Health system, is just 10 days old, but it takes the handling of a heroin addict to the next level.

“Call it Narcan 2,” he said.

Now, when officers administer Narcan to an overdose victim and take the person to the emergency room, after the initial crisis is over, the person will be sent to a 24- to 48-hour detoxification stay at Sunrise Detox in Toms River, where they will begin to receive one-on-one treatment to address the issues underlying the drug addiction.

From there, the addict will be treated four possible ways: through methodone, suboxone, or Vivitrol to help break the body’s addiction, or through an in-patient treatment program.

“Narcan saved a life, but we want to go in and break the cycle of addiction,” he said. The program is operating at Community Medical Center and at the Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, formerly known as Kimball Medical Center, Coronato said, and the cooperation of Barnabas Heath is a critical element, he said.

There have been 116 Narcan saves in Ocean County since that program began April 6, he said, but some of those saves have been of people who have since been saved a second or even a third time, he said. In other cases, there are people who were saved by Narcan -- which works by knocking the opiate off the receptors in the brain that cause the body to shut down -- who then overdosed later.

That’s why the second piece -- treatment -- is critical, Coronato said.

“We’re going to drill down on this issue until we have a solution,” he said.

Coronato said the treatment portion is not easy.

“We are still working out the details,” he said, including finding money to sustain the program. “If it was easy it would have been done by now.”

“I realize this is a heavy lift, but I am willing to try anything,” Coronato said.