North Yorkshire Police officers are to begin carrying a life-saving nasal spray to tackle the effects of opioid overdose.
The force has joined 28 other UK police forces by rolling out the spray to response and neighbourhoods policing team officers in the initial phase. The scheme will be gradually expanded over a few years.
More than 250 frontline officers have volunteered to carry Naloxone.
Naloxone, which is safe to use, will be administered by officers via a nasal spray, which is easier to use than the injection-based variant.
Assistant chief constable Catherine Clarke said:
“Naloxone is the emergency antidote used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose. If administered within 15 minutes, Naloxone can restore normal breathing to a person if it has slowed or stopped.
“The main cause of premature death among people who use drugs in the UK is drug overdose. Many of the reported deaths could potentially have been avoided if Naloxone had been administered, which buys more time for medical intervention by ambulance and hospital teams. This really is a life saver.”
Someone who experienced this first hand is Harrogate woman Emma Plant.
Her life was saved by the kit after she accidentally overdosed and was revived with naloxone. Ms Plant was a heroin and cocaine addict for 10 years. She said:
“It just spiralled out of control, I actually used to go over quite a lot and my friends would call the ambulance.”
She experienced an overdose in a shared household. A man in the house found her unconscious and used the naloxone to revive her.
Ms Plant said:
“He used the Naloxone on me and saved my life. What he said to me is that I’d gone blue, I wasn’t breathing, I was gone, and I didn’t believe it. Now I think about it I think, wow, he actually saved my life. I could’ve not been here today if it wasn’t for him having that naloxone on him.”
Ms Plant is now clean and employed as a community engager with Red Rose Recovery in Harrogate. She is also part of the new Peer 2 Peer Naloxone Guardians who will be distributing more Naloxone in the community.
North Yorkshire Police’s harm reduction officer Danny Stannard delivers the first Naloxone training sessions to frontline officers.
As a member of the North Yorkshire Drug and Alcohol Partnership, the force says it has a part to play alongside emergency services and community partners in preserving life and reducing harm for substance users.
A consultation on a draft North Yorkshire substance use (drugs and alcohol) strategy ends on April 30, 2024.
Public health experts and national organisations including the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing and the Independent Office of Police Complaints (IOPC), will support the police in using naloxone.
Click below to watch Ms Plant’s story:
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