COLUMBUS GROVE — Officers in Putnam County are better prepared to help people who’ve overdosed on heroin and other opiates.
Officers with most law enforcement agencies in Putnam County now travel with naloxone hydrochloride in their vehicles, said Columbus Grove Police Chief Nick Gilgenbach. The drug reverses some of the effects of the overdoses, plus it’s safe for someone who isn’t suffering the effects of a heroin or opiate overdose.
“With the police agencies in Putnam County, we’re typically in our cruisers, on the road, and we can be almost anywhere in our jurisdiction in one or two minutes,” Gilgenbach said. “We can get there more quickly, and it’s very easy to administer once you’ve been trained.”
It’s a way to counter the heroin epidemic in the county. Putnam County had 34 heroin or opiate overdoses in the last year, including three fatal overdoses. Officers have already used the naloxone 11 times, possibly preventing an overdose death each time.
Gilgenbach said the overdoses have affecting males and females equally, with 29 as the average age of the person. An EMS worker in Columbus Grove administered naloxone Oct. 28, saving a person’s life, he said.
“I believe we’re just starting to go up the ladder of people using heroin,” Gilgenbach said.
Heroin and opiates are difficult to counter because they’re so addictive, he said. That changed how he looked at the addicts, compared to alcohol or cocaine addictions.
“You’d say, ‘Why would they do that for a pill?’” Gilgenbach said. “I’d never considered how much it makes the brain need the drug. It’s not necessarily why they’d want to do it but because their system absolutely needs the drug.”
Community police, sheriff’s deputies, the Putnam County Health Department, prosecutor’s office and courts all worked together to get the overdose kits into the county. At the same time, they’ve stepped up their training at area high schools and middle schools in the hopes of stopping possible addictions before they start.
They’re now planning a March event to better educate parents on how to spot it.
“All it took were some people coming together and putting together a small toolbox to counteract these drugs,” Gilgenbach said. “We moved forward on the education, and there’s a better chance our youth won’t start using it in the first place.”
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