Ipswich Police Department Now Carrying Nasal Narcan In All Cruisers

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Contact: Jessica Sacco
Phone: 978-769-5193
Email: jessica@jgpr.net

Ipswich Police Department Now Carrying Nasal Narcan In All Cruisers

IPSWICH — Chief Paul A. Nikas is pleased to report that all Ipswich Police cruisers will now carry Nasal Naloxone to better equip officers to save lives when responding to reported drug overdoses.

Naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, is an antagonist that quickly reverses the effects of opioids by displacing the drug from the receptors in the brain. It is effective against heroin, Fentanyl, oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). Naracan has minimal side effects, is not dangerous if administered to a person who is not overdosing, and has no potential for abuse.

Opioid overdoses are currently one of the leading causes of death in Massachusetts and no community is immune to the problem. Former Governor Deval Patrick declared it a public health crisis last year and Governor Charles Baker has made addiction education and prevention a priority for his administration.

“Police officers are public guardians and are most often the first emergency responder on the scene of an overdose,” Chief Nikas said. “Narcan will prepare our officers to meet the opioid crisis head on and hopefully prevent the tragic loss of life in our community.”

The new policy is one of many steps the Ipswich Police Department is taking to combat the opioid epidemic. In addition to Narcan deployment, the department is expanding education and awareness training on addiction in the Ipswich schools, creating partnerships with long-term care facilities to assist addicts, and increasing officer training on drug recognition and interdiction.

Chief Nikas would like to thank and acknowledge Dr. Steven Krendel, the medical director who oversees the Ipswich Narcan program through Beverly Hospital and David Lacaillade, the Emergency Management/EMS coordinator at Beverly Hospital who was instrumental in assisting with the start of the program.

He would also like to recognize Patrolman Charles Ciccotelli for his hard work putting together a program customized to Ipswich and for completing the “train the trainer” course in order to teach other officers how to properly use Narcan.

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