Oak Park Police Department is preparing its officers to handle drug overdoses.
The Oak Park PD is equipping all officers with Naloxone to help people experiencing drug overdoses, which caused the deaths of an average of 23 Cook County residents per week in 2019.
"Oak Park police officers and sergeants assigned to field duties carry automated external defibrillator cases equipped with doses of Naloxone, a fast-acting drug that can save the life of a drug overdose victim by blocking the effect of opioids in the brain. Anyone needing help with opioid use disorders, including families of and anyone affected by the disease, can get help 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1.833.2FINDHELP, a hotline hosted by the Illinois Department of Human Services," Oak Park PD on posted Facebook.
Naloxone is a medicine that can reverse a drug overdose. Naloxone "attaches to opioid receptors and reverses and blocks the effects of other opioids" and can "quickly restore normal breathing to a person if their breathing has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose," according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Naloxone can be administered as a nasal spray or as an injection.
Between January 2018 and December 2019, an average of 23 Cook County residents died from drug overdoses per week, US News reported. Gov. Pritzker issued lockdown orders in late March of 2020. The average number of Cook County residents who died from drug overdoses increased to 43.4 per week. "Researchers noted the pandemic led to interruptions in the illicit drug supply, placing opioid users at an increased risk of overdose, particularly as their tolerance may have dropped or they may have used more powerful, substitutionary drugs such as fentanyl," according to US News.
The Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) reported 487 opioid-involved overdose deaths in suburban Cook County in 2020, which was a 36% increase from 2019. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use opioids in suburban Cook County specifically is inconclusive at present, but CCDPH is working to analyze the impact," its website notes.
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