CHOCOWINITY — The Town of Chocowinity is leading an effort to save lives from opiate-based overdoses.

The town is the first municipality in Beaufort County to stock its police cars with kits to reverse the effects of opiates in the event of an overdose.

During its May 2 meeting, the Chocowinity Town Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to allow its police squad cars to be stocked with Narcan kits based on a suggestion from Shane Grier, captain of Chocowinity EMS.

Grier pointed out opiate-based deaths from drug overdoses are up 650 percent nationwide since Jan. 1. In Beaufort County, there an average of five to six opiate-based happen per week, according to Grier.

“And it’s even gone as far as the organ donor programs,” Grier said. “Some of those programs aren’t needing as much as they’ve needed before because of the drug overdoses in the United States. We run, on average, two to three overdoses a week just in Chocowinity.”

Grier said law enforcement officers are usually first on scene when there is a call, especially for calls involving violence. There is usually a three to five-minute window before EMS arrives. In the event of an overdose, after four to six minutes, the victim is clinically brain dead, which is irreversible, according to Grier.

The added capability of law enforcement being able to administer the Narcan kit ultimately means the difference between life and death for overdose victims, Grier said.

The kits contain the drug naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of opiates, and are administered using an atomizer just like a nasal spray device, according to Grier. The drug has little side effects — mainly nausea and vomiting.

“Most times in overdoses (the victim) will throw up and that vomit most times ends up in their lungs even if they survive the overdose. Like most overdoses we run, they involve a lot of alcohol and opiate-based narcotics. The narcotics are a respiratory depressant and make it where you can’t clear your airways. Because your nostril membranes absorb the (Narcan) so fast, it gives you an instant release from the overdose. The gain far outweighs the risk.”

Grier said the kits are available at no cost to the town. By North Carolina state law, when an EMS agency administers a drug to a patient, the patient must be transported to a hospital for continued evaluation, according to Grier. When someone is given Narcan, the cost of the drug is added in with the transportation fee charged by Chocowinity EMS.

The Chocowinity Police Department will participate in Narcan training in the coming weeks, according to Grier. Currently, the town is writing the policy for administering the kits to overdose victims. Once the policy is written and the training is complete, the cars will be stocked with the kits, Grier said.

“I think this will probably save 50 people per year, at least, in Beaufort County,” Grier said.

“With them on the cars, a lot of times our police officers are first on scene, and they’ll have to respond before EMS can come in,” said Jimmy Mobley, Chocowinity mayor. “It’s a very good possibility they can save lives by doing their jobs. Hopefully, they won’t ever have to use them, but we, as a board, think it’s a good thing. Do we want to have to use them? No. But we will, especially when it comes to saving someone’s life.”