Columbia council member pushes for naloxone

The popular opioid overdose-reversing drug may soon come to Columbia’s first responders.

Second Ward city council member Michael Trapp asked the city to look into the costs of outfitting each Columbia police officer and firefighter with the drug that’s become increasingly popular in addressing the growing number of overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin. ABC 17 News has covered the growing supply of heroin through Columbia, and the effects of prescription painkiller abuse.

It would cost $11,880 for each person to carry a kit, according to the city’s budget memo posted online. The city council will hold a work session on next year’s budget Saturday morning, and two public hearings on the budget at its September meetings. The money for naloxone comes from the “council reserve” – a discretionary fund the seven-person city council uses to spend on projects they agree on.

Trapp said a trip back to his hometown in Michigan convinced him to make the move. The police department reversed two opioid overdoses with the use of naloxone in just a few days, Trapp claimed. He hoped firefighters and police could have the same tool in Columbia.

“In general, the fire department responds one minute faster than the ambulance,” Trapp told ABC 17 News. “And in my talking with medical professionals is that one minute of treatment could be the difference of life and death.”

In a bizarre, and frightening, example of naloxone’s use came in Cabell County, W. Va. Wednesday afternoon. WSAZ and the AP report that first responders dealt with 28 heroin overdoses in two hours. Police credited the overdoses to a potent batch of the drug, and used naloxone to “revive” eight patients. The EMS director said it stretched his department thin.

Trapp said he was glad the naloxone costs did not turn out to be more expensive. While the price of the popular naloxone brand Narcan has risen, the councilman said an $11,000 cost would be an appropriate investment to combat overdoses.