St. Louis County police carrying heroin antidote Narcan

BALLWIN, Mo. -- St. Louis County police began carrying the heroin antidote Narcan on Thursday in hopes of saving some of the victims of a drug that has become a scourge in the region.

All commissioned personnel in the St. Louis County Police Department are being trained in the use of Narcan, an antidote for those who overdose on heroin or prescription opioids such as morphine, codeine or oxycodone. Every police vehicle also will be equipped with the nasal-spray version of the medication, police chief Jon Belmar said.

"We're going to save lives," Belmar said.

Government officials across the country, including at the White House, have called prescription opioid abuse a national crisis, tied to more than 16,000 deaths in 2013. Another 8,000 additional deaths involved heroin, to which many addicts switch after becoming addicted to more expensive legal drugs.

St. Louis County reported more than 90 heroin-related deaths last year and more than 300 over the past three years.

Belmar said police often arrive before emergency medical crews, and every moment is crucial in a heroin overdose. He estimated 12 to 20 lives could have been saved last year if officers had access to Narcan.

Police will administer the spray through a syringe into the nostrils of suspected overdose victims, Belmar said.

If they did not, in fact, overdose, the medication will not harm them, he said.

A state law passed in 2014 allows police departments to use Narcan, but so far, few do.

Officials with the St. Louis and Kansas City police departments said they rely on ambulance personnel to treat medical emergencies.

St. Louis police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said in the city, EMS crews often arrive before police.

Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp said there are no plans to equip officers with Narcan anytime soon.

Missouri had 1,067 drug overdose deaths in 2014, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have compiled state-level data. Overdose deaths now exceed vehicle deaths -- the Missouri State Highway Patrol counted 766 vehicle fatalities in 2014.

The heroin epidemic has hit especially hard in the St. Louis area. Over the past several years, heroin has become far more pure, and dealers have targeted suburban areas. The drug sometimes is so pure and potent, the user is caught off guard and overdoses.

Death, Belmar said, can be almost instantaneous.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger announced legislation earlier this week to monitor distribution of prescription medicines that can serve as a gateway to heroin addiction. The county legislation is necessary because Missouri is the only U.S. state that has failed to establish a database to track opioids prescribed by doctors.

"We are attacking the heroin epidemic from all angles," Stenger said Thursday.