DALTON, Ga. — Dalton Police Officer Tyler McBrayer has never encountered an overdose case, but he knows having a new kit in his patrol car that can reverse an opioid overdose could save lives.

“I believe it’s a good tool to have in the toolbox due to the increase in opioid use,” McBrayer said.

Every Dalton officer is now carrying, and has been trained to use, a Narcan kit. Narcan is a nasal spray form of the drug Naloxone, which blocks the effects of opioids and can reverse an overdose. The $3,300 grant from the Medical Association of Georgia Foundation covered the cost of 88 doses of the spray.

Bruce Frazier, public relations specialist for the department, said there have been two overdose deaths and at least three other overdose cases in Dalton in the past two and a half years, and he noted the threat is rapidly growing, pointing to a recent outbreak in Macon that resulted in 20 overdoses and five deaths.

“It’s definitely out there,” said Frazier.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include not only illegal drugs such as heroin but also prescription painkillers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and others. Narcan works by preventing the body from processing those drugs already in someone’s system.

Narcan is fairly simple to administer, said Fraizer. An officer tilts a person’s head back and sprays one dose of the drug into one nostril. Because of the absorbent nature of the tissue inside the nose and sinuses, a person does not even need to be conscious or breathing.

Additionally, the drug has little to no effect on anyone not suffering the effects of opioid overdose. As such, McBrayer said he was trained to use the spray in any instance where a potential overdose is suspected.

“When in doubt, if you are experiencing someone who appears to have overdosed on something but you’re not sure what it is, go ahead and hit them with the Narcan,” McBrayer said.

The only real risk, explained Frazier, is that someone doesn’t get the medical attention they need after overdosing. If the Narcan wears off but a person still has opioids in their system, they could go back into an overdose state.

“It’s not uncommon for someone to get a dose of Narcan, then it wears off and they need another dose,” Frazier said.

In December, Georgia lawmakers changed the classification of the Naloxone, allowing it to be sold over the counter in pharmacies. Frazier said anyone who thinks that a friend or family member is potentially overdosing should seek out the life-saving drug as soon as possible.

Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker said in a press release that Georgia’s 911 Medical Amnesty Law allows people to call 911 for assistance in such situations without fear of arrest for drug or alcohol possession. Symptoms of an opioid overdose include slowed breathing, sleepiness and being difficult to wake up and “pin point” pupils (which may not be present if other drugs have also been used).

“We are very aggressively targeting the drug manufacturers and dealers, but the bottom line as it relates to overdose situations is that individual drug users can call for help if they or another person is overdosing, and the focus is going to be on the medical issue and human survival,” Parker explained. “The same goes for a family member or friend of the overdosing victim who may hesitate to call for help out of fear the overdosing person being charged.”