Columbus police officer uses overdose medicine to save man

Staff Reports

A Columbus Police Department officer administered Narcan to save a 22-year-old man who was unconscious from an apparent overdose Wednesday, authorities said.

Officer John Searle, a member of the department’s Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving unit, was sent to the 1300 block of Sycamore Street about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday regarding a man who was unresponsive inside the residence, said Sgt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police spokesman.

Bystanders told Searle they had tried to wake the man but were unable to do so, police said.

Searle noted the man’s breathing was shallow and he appeared to have overdosed, Harris said. Searle administered the overdose drug Narcan, and the man regained consciousness a short time later and was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital.

The man is the third area resident who has received Narcan from officers since the final group of police were trained in its use in late January, Harris said.

The department joined about one dozen other police departments in Indiana who began carrying Narcan earlier this year.

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Developed in the 1960s, naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, is a medication used to counter the effects of opioid overdose.

It usually will reverse the depression of the central nervous system, respiratory system, and hypertension caused by heroin and similar narcotics.

While the drug is most commonly administered by physicians and nurses intravenously, it’s given to overdose victims by first-responders as a nasal spray.

Source: Dictionary of Pharmacological Agents

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