Hennepin deputy revives woman with anti-overdose drug

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says its push to carry the anti-overdose drug Narcan to aid victims in an emergency has paid off.

A deputy called to Corcoran Feb. 22 on a report of a woman in difficulty found her unconscious and having trouble breathing. After two doses of Narcan, she was later able to walk to a waiting ambulance.

It may be the first instance of someone saved by a Narcan dose administered by police in Minnesota, the sheriff's office said.

Narcan, also known by the generic name naloxone, can restart the respiratory systems of people who overdose on opiates like heroin or prescription painkillers. Advocates helped push through a law last year that lets first responders carry and administer the antidote. The drug's use was previously limited to medical personnel.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office was the first agency in the state to outfit officers with Narcan in August. Coon Rapids was the first fire department. In November, firefighters there responding to an emergency call of a possible heroin overdose administered Narcan to an unresponsive 24-year-old, who eventually regained consciousness.

"There's a lot of reasons why people overdose on opiates — sometimes accidental, sometimes purposeful. Either way, law enforcement's job is to save lives," Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said Friday. Being able to administer Narcan gives officers "a unique ability to be able to do that."

Stanek, one of the leading advocates at the Legislature for expanding access to Narcan, said he'd like to see lawmakers fund more training and availability of the drug for police.