OD ANTIDOTE CONTROVERSY

Quincy Chief Supports Plan to Supply Drugs to Addicts; Others

Nineteen people in Quincy died from drug overdoses last year, an
occurrence that is becoming more common across the South Shore as
heroin gets cheaper and cheaper.

Police Chief Robert Crowley realizes there is no way to bring them
back. But he does support a controversial method - giving out another
drug to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose - to save drug users
teetering on the brink.

"It can save lives," Crowley said. "I've seen it administered, and
it's amazing how it actually brings people back."

Crowley's position - endorsing a new state Department of Public
Health plan to give the prescription drug Narcan to addicts, an
effort to curb a dramatic rise in heroin deaths - is hardly universal
among local law enforcement.

Some call the move shortsighted, even counterproductive in the effort
to prevent addicts from continually putting their lives at risk.

"Is it going stop them from the next injection? I doubt it," said
Hanover Police Chief Paul Hayes.

Hayes, who is on a state narcotics abuse advisory council, called the
plan "a Band-Aid for the problem."

In Weymouth, last year's rate of emergency room overdose cases was
almost as high as Quincy's. Even so, Police Chief James Thomas said
Narcan should remain solely in emergency medical crews' hands.

Starting in December, DPH will provide Narcan to as many as 450
addicts in the south-of-Boston area and other parts of the state, in
a $50,000 pilot program that could be expanded if it goes well.

Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said the Narcan will be
provided through substance abuse centers, as a way to help persuade
addicts to enter treatment programs.

The drug won't be handed out on the street. Addicts must register to
get limited doses.

"The priority for us is enrolling people into drug treatment,"
Auerbach said. "We want to keep people alive long enough so they will
be motivated to do that."

At one such local program, the High Point Treatment Center in
Plymouth, chief executive officer Daniel Mumbauer said he supports
the state plan.

"It will help young folks from dying in our region," Mumbauer said.
"It's all about saving someone's life."

Auerbach previously introduced Narcan in Boston, when he directed the
city's health department. He said its success there prompted him to
try the plan statewide.

Used for years by EMTs and in hospital emergency rooms, Narcan
reverses the main side effect of overdoses - slowed breathing that
shuts off oxygen to the brain and stops the addict's heart from
beating. It works within three to four minutes and isn't habit-forming.

Narcan is also used in New York City, Chicago and Baltimore.
Massachusetts will be the third state to allow its distribution.

The rise in heroin use and deaths has been linked to cheaper, more
abundant supplies of the drug.

In 2005, the state had 544 heroin-related deaths, well over twice the
total of 218 in 1997. That year, Quincy's rate of fatal and nonfatal
overdoses from heroin, OxyContin and other opiates was 60 percent
higher than the state average. Weymouth's rate of emergency room
treatment for overdoses was almost as high.

For Police Chief Crowley, those rates are reason enough to make
Narcan available, as the next step from methadone treatment and
decriminalizing the possession of hypodermic needles that addicts use.

Hanover's Chief Hayes, on the other hand, said the state should
instead step up long-term prevention programs.

Auerbach said Narcan initially will be provided at four treatment
centers statewide. The closest one to the South Shore will be in the
Fall River-New Bedford area.

Addicts interested in receiving Narcan will first be encouraged to
enter a drug detox and treatment program. If they're not ready for
that step, they must register to get a Narcan prescription. They'll
also get CPR instruction, and be urged to call 911 to get medical aid.

The Narcan kit will contain two doses of the drug. Each liquid dose
is in a syringe with a device that turns the drug into a mist that's
taken through a small, cone-shaped nasal inhaler, similar to a
flu-mist inhaler.