UCSC Police Officers now equipped and trained with Narcan
UPDATE 02/01/19 5:45 p.m. Amid rising fentanyl concerns, the University of California Santa Cruz has now trained and equipped its police officers with Naloxone, best known as Narcan.
Narcan is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose by a nasal spray.
The Police Department previously had to rely on the Fire Department for Narcan, but now each officer will carry at least two doses with them on shift.
UC Santa Cruz Police Chief Nader Oweis, says while they haven’t seen any fentanyl related overdoses on campus recently, they have in other parts of the state, which is why he wants his officers to be prepared.
“We’re starting to hear more about fentanyl both in other types of drugs or people using fentanyl itself.
Before some time of emergency situation occurs or we see an overdose in our community, especially here on the campus, we wanted to make sure our officers were well equipped,” says Police Chief Nader Oweis.
One student we spoke with says while she doesn’t have any friends who have overdosed, she knows people who do experiment with drugs, and fentanyl is a concern, ” that’s what I tell my friends, people say ‘oh I trust my dealer, I know the guy, he’s gonna get me safe stuff’, but it’s like look at these big rappers you know they probably trusted their dealer too, but you can’t trust anyone.”
The training for Narcan has taken place over the past few weeks, and officers are already carrying it with them.
Chief Nader wants to remind anyone who is hesitant to call police when someone is having an overdose that minutes matter, “time is really important it doesn’t take long for somebody to overdose so the sooner we can get there the quicker we can get there the more likely we’ll be able to counter the effects of an overdose.”
Diane Lamotte with the Health Center on campus says they also should not worry about getting in trouble because the campus has an amnesty program to protect students in these situations, “so if you’re with someone who is doing drugs, if you were drinking underage and with them, you have amnesty, please report. Narcan has to get on board really quickly.”
The campus pharmacy also carries narcan that anyone can buy, since they started selling it in 2016, officials say they’ve sold more than 65 boxes of it.
It was paid for through a program with the Santa Cruz County Health Department and came at no cost for the school.
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Amid rising fentanyl concerns, the University of California Santa Cruz has now trained and equipped its police officers with Naloxone, best known as Narcan.
Narcan is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose by a nasal spray.
The Police Department previously had to rely on the Fire Department for Narcan, but now each officer will carry at least two doses with them on shift.
UC Santa Cruz Police Chief Nader Oweis, says while they haven’t seen any fentanyl related overdoses on campus recently, they have in other parts of the state, which is why he wants his officers to be prepared.
The training for Narcan has taken place over the past few weeks, and officers are already carrying it with them.
It was paid for through a program with the Santa Cruz County Health Department and came at no cost for the school.
KION’S Ashley Keehn will have more at 5&6.
