Naloxone: 'Miracle' anti-overdose drug used in Northamptonshire Police pilot to prevent deaths
ITV News Anglia's Rosie Dowsing reports on how police officers are using Naloxone - an anti-overdose drug.
A former drug addict - who nearly overdosed twice - is training police to use a "miracle" anti-overdose drug to help save lives.
Naloxone comes in the form of a nasal spray which temporarily reverses the effects of an overdose, buying time for paramedics to treat the victim and get them to hospital.
Neighbourhood Northamptonshire Police officers in Northampton, Wellingborough and Kettering, will now be carrying the spray, having been trained and certified in its use.
Terry Gilfoyle, at Change Grow Live Northants, has been part of the training programme with the force and says the pilot is a "major breakthrough".
Mr Gilfoyle said the antidote could have bought him more time during his personal experience of an overdose - had it been available during his period of addiction. Instead he was lucky enough to have been dropped off at a hospital in good time.
"Police are often the first responders on the scene, especially with the rough sleeper population," he said.
"I've been in recovery for 21 years and during my time in addiction, this stuff wasn't around.
"I've had two personal overdoses. Naxolone could have been used on me. But thankfully somebody got me to hospital in time."
Alesha Watkins, from Change Grow Live (CGL), is also a recovering addict who believes the small but mighty Naxolone nasal spray will save countless lives in Northamptonshire.
She said: "I spent 14 years of my life in active heroine addiction, before getting into recovery.
"Had naloxone been available back then, there's a number of friends and family that I could have saved.
"The amount of people you lose when you're in active addiction is high. These are good people that could have found recovery and could have found services like ours to achieve their goals, dreams and ambitions."
'People just don't know how much they're taking'
Addiction support workers at CGL say synthetic opioids are on the rise, which has increased the number of people at risk of a dangerous overdose.
Anete Baumeistars says her addiction was to 'party drugs' rather than heroine, but nowadays many drugs can be cut with synthetic opioids.
She wants to spread the message among users in Northamptonshire that anyone might need a life-saving dose of Naxolone due to the sheer amount of dangerous drugs on the market.
Ms Baumeistars said: "You think that you're not going to be at risk of an overdose because, supposedly, you can't overdose on those party drugs like cocaine.
"But if I was using now, I would definitely fall into that risk category where it could have been fatal for me."
The most recent ONS figures show that 60 people died a drug-related death across Cambridgeshire in 2022, while 57 died in Hertfordshire and 42 in Northamptonshire.
According to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners around there are 40 deaths related to opiate misuse every week in the UK.
Detective Superintendent Steve Watkins, who is leading the project for Northamptonshire Police, said the spray had been successfully rolled out across a number of forces elsewhere in the UK.
He said: “Sadly, we are encountering more drug overdose victims, in part due to the proliferation in the use of highly dangerous synthetic drugs.
“Naloxone gives frontline officers an opportunity to administer a vital lifeline to users who have overdosed on heroin or heroin cut with synthetic drugs.
“We’re training a number of our frontline officers to use the spray, which can be used to counteract the effects of the overdose and prevent a person from dying, pending emergency medical support from ambulance.
“The spray is already being used by ambulance crews and other partners in the county, with the move to equip our police officers with the spray providing further opportunities to prevent drug-related deaths from synthetic opioids.
“The uptake will be on a voluntary basis but at the end of the pilot we will explore the impact of the trial to determine whether we continue to equip officers going forward.”
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