Hundred overdose victims saved by Naloxone nasal spray treatment, police say

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scots cops may have saved the lives of exactly 100 people after intervening in overdoses.The claim arises after the opiate reversal drug Naloxone was used on 104 people, with 100 of them appearing to be on the brink of death.The results are now being claimed a triumph, despite the Police Federation, which represents officers, refusing to support the rollout of kits in 2019, claiming it was placed inappropriate stresses on officers.Since then 4,000 nasal spray kits have been distributed in a pilot programme and it is planned that 12,500 officers will soon be trained in using them.The hundredth incident occurred less than a week before Christmas at a Glasgow hotel, where officers gave the drug to a lifeless woman.Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie, who has been behind the drive for Naloxone, said: “I’ve spoken to the vast majority of our officers who used Naloxone during the pilot, and the common feedback is how much they welcome having Naloxone as a high profile part of their on-duty equipment.“They’ve told me of cases where they were convinced the casualty was dead, as the person was cold and their pallor had changed, but they administered Naloxone to give the member of the public the best possible chance - and it rapidly reversed the respiratory suppression and saved their life.”Special constable Stewart Barclay, a volunteer in Greater Glasgow Division, was on duty on Saturday, 27 March, 2021, when he helped save a man’s life after an overdose.

SPC Barclay said: “I saw the man was in a bad way - he had all the symptoms we’d been told about in training, including pale skin, blue lips, pinpoint pupils and slow, raspy, shallow breathing. “As we’d been told it was a suspected drug overdose, I decided to administer the