State Troopers Now Carrying Narcan

Beginning a few weeks ago State Troopers started carrying Narcan in their cruisers in case they come across someone that has had a drug overdose. They received training on how to administer it. Sergeant Luke Newman says it is like a nasal spray, which is more practical than using a shot they have to inject someone with. He says, “It is less operator error as well. I mean if you have an injectable thing there are a lot more things going on. Now you have a needle and all this, where this is a nasal spray that I’m sure is just as quickly absorbed into the body and it is much easier to use.” State Patrol Inspector Scott Hlinak dealt with an overdose once, but they were already in a hospital when that person overdosed. He says, “I had one that went called on the nod or started going through that but we were already at the hospital. So he had used right before the traffic stop and about an hour later we were at the hospital and he was on the nod so they had to use Narcan to bring him out.” Sergeant Newman says since they’ve been equipped with Narcan the first time a state trooper used it to save a person’s life was in the Madison area.