Thoughts on Narcan

[SOUP]

I apprehended a shoplifter today that was stealing to support his habit. I do asset protection for a living here in Indy. I thought of this exact topic and asked him if he's ever had to rely on or use narcan and he stated, "Ive had to use it a couple of times and I've seen it used on several of my friends". It's sad really that so many of them continue down this path even after seeing and going through all of this. The kid was only 24 years old and stated that he had only been using for around a year. He looked bad too... this dude got the shoplifting charge (just shy of a felony) and a handful of paraphernalia charges as well.

I believe he will be spending his Christmas behind bars. This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

 

[Trigger Time]

I apprehended a shoplifter today that was stealing to support his habit. I do asset protection for a living here in Indy. I thought of this exact topic and asked him if he's ever had to rely on or use narcan and he stated, "Ive had to use it a couple of times and I've seen it used on several of my friends". It's sad really that so many of them continue down this path even after seeing and going through all of this. The kid was only 24 years old and stated that he had only been using for around a year. He looked bad too... this dude got the shoplifting charge (just shy of a felony) and a handful of paraphernalia charges as well.

I believe he will be spending his Christmas behind bars. This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

I shop with no rhyme or reason sometimes
Sometimes I like to just wonder around. It's fun watching you guys stalk me like a gazelle
I never did asset protection but sounds like it would be a hoot.

 

[Gabriel]

This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

You need to remember that they ruined their own Christmas. You didn’t make them steal.

 

[thunderchicken]

I shop with no rhyme or reason sometimes
Sometimes I like to just wonder around. It's fun watching you guys stalk me like a gazelle
I never did asset protection but sounds like it would be a hoot.

Lmao. I do the same thing and when I notice they are following me

 

[MrsGungho]

You need to remember that they ruined their own Christmas. You didn’t make them steal.

I was going to say just this

no one but themselves made them shoplift. for whatever reason, it was a choice they made.

 

[churchmouse]

I apprehended a shoplifter today that was stealing to support his habit. I do asset protection for a living here in Indy. I thought of this exact topic and asked him if he's ever had to rely on or use narcan and he stated, "Ive had to use it a couple of times and I've seen it used on several of my friends". It's sad really that so many of them continue down this path even after seeing and going through all of this. The kid was only 24 years old and stated that he had only been using for around a year. He looked bad too... this dude got the shoplifting charge (just shy of a felony) and a handful of paraphernalia charges as well.

I believe he will be spending his Christmas behind bars. This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

Just want to say how can you ruin something they most likely will not care about. That is a sad state of affairs to see a life in that much turmoil but you did not put them into that life. I am sure once caught they might ponder it but in a way you might be pointing this young man in a better direction.

 

[churchmouse]

Lmao. I do the same thing and when I notice they are following me

I smile and wave on the occasion I see this. Not being snarky. Just hate to see them waste the effort.

 

[KellyinAvon]

I shop with no rhyme or reason sometimes
Sometimes I like to just wonder around. It's fun watching you guys stalk me like a gazelle
I never did asset protection but sounds like it would be a hoot.

You are pretty suspicious, have you noticed the same code gets announced over the PA whenever you enter the store?

 

[KellyinAvon]

I apprehended a shoplifter today that was stealing to support his habit. I do asset protection for a living here in Indy. I thought of this exact topic and asked him if he's ever had to rely on or use narcan and he stated, "Ive had to use it a couple of times and I've seen it used on several of my friends". It's sad really that so many of them continue down this path even after seeing and going through all of this. The kid was only 24 years old and stated that he had only been using for around a year. He looked bad too... this dude got the shoplifting charge (just shy of a felony) and a handful of paraphernalia charges as well.

I believe he will be spending his Christmas behind bars. This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

You might've saved his family from spending Christmas in the ER, or worse.

 

[CHCRandy]

I apprehended a shoplifter today that was stealing to support his habit. I do asset protection for a living here in Indy. I thought of this exact topic and asked him if he's ever had to rely on or use narcan and he stated, "Ive had to use it a couple of times and I've seen it used on several of my friends". It's sad really that so many of them continue down this path even after seeing and going through all of this. The kid was only 24 years old and stated that he had only been using for around a year. He looked bad too... this dude got the shoplifting charge (just shy of a felony) and a handful of paraphernalia charges as well.

I believe he will be spending his Christmas behind bars. This job has me feeling like the Grinch every year ruining all of these folks Christmas.

Cheer up. If the court system he was taken to is like all the rest, he was OR'd and jacked up before you got off work.

 

[2A_Tom]

I have been in construction since I got out of the Army in 82. Whenever I got rained out I would stop at Sears, Handy Andy, Builders Square and years later at Menards, Home Depot or Lowe's.

I would walk around and fondle every tool, walk every aisle, examine everything.

Later when I had a problem, I knew exactly where to go to get the part or tool I needed to solve it.

I know that I was on a lot of asset protection personnel's radar.

 

[thunderchicken]

I smile and wave on the occasion I see this. Not being snarky. Just hate to see them waste the effort.

I start acting all paranoid and look over my shoulder a lot and sometimes I pick something up and walk off with it and put it on another shelf when they aren't looking. Or I will call them out.. Who are you and why are you following me? Depending on my wifes mood she will either laugh or get really ticked.
I had a guy (early 20s) at Walmart follow me around for almost an hour over the weekend. I took that kid all over the store before I made my way to sporting goods. When he found me by the ammo case, I said ahh here's what I'm looking for and thanked him for watching my back while I was there and asked if he had a key or if I needed to find someone else. Oddly after buying some ammo he followed me to the door too. Lol

 

[churchmouse]

I start acting all paranoid and look over my shoulder a lot and sometimes I pick something up and walk off with it and put it on another shelf when they aren't looking. Or I will call them out.. Who are you and why are you following me? Depending on my wifes mood she will either laugh or get really ticked.
I had a guy (early 20s) at Walmart follow me around for almost an hour over the weekend. I took that kid all over the store before I made my way to sporting goods. When he found me by the ammo case, I said ahh here's what I'm looking for and thanked him for watching my back while I was there and asked if he had a key or if I needed to find someone else. Oddly after buying some ammo he followed me to the door too. Lol

He was committed at that point...

 

[LarryC]

I have tried to "figure this issue out" , been reading the reports, watching the documentaries , they all seem to say the same thing Narcan makes herion abusers feel "safe" they know that if the OD they will more than likely not die and be revived (no one has ever made a comment about being arrested acting like a detterrant junkies just don't care).

The State of Indiana has had an HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis on the rise due to Junkies sharing needles , the bad thing is at least to me it appears that most people currently on herion they all got started with perscription pain killers and the pharmacutical company Purdue (I don't think it's related to Purdue University ) pushing Oxycontin to doctors as a "safe pain management tool" because it appears to me at least that opoid based pain killers were not nearly as commonly used in the United States till the 1990's (I would LOVE Hoosierdocs input on this) .

So I feel like any response has to start on multiple levels, non-opoid pain management practices need to be researched and employed in order to reduce the large number of people who get hooked off perscriptions. Then ramping up enforcement at the dealer / distributor level is nessesary and as much as I hate mandatory minimums and whatnot we need to put the fear of god into these dealers regarding Fentanyl if you are cought with it I would honestly like to see basically instant life in prison.

The above would hopefully redice the total number of new addicts each year , but I tend to agree with Trigger Time as to the use of Narcan on actual addicts. But then again no one ever called me sympathetic to people's self inflicted problems (honestly one of the major reasons I chose to not pursue Medical School). The current junkies honestly society can write them off, most never recover or relapse very quickly of they do get clean. All they end up being is a drain on an already overtaxed system.




https://www.wthr.com/article/hepatitis-outbreak-indiana-hits-700-cases-past-year

https://news.yale.edu/2018/09/13/new-study-finds-hiv-outbreak-indiana-could-have-been-prevented

There is another side to the narcotics issue. I am now 77 yo, in the 1980's I was prescribed Oxycodone due to contracting arthritics of the spine. It took 2 months for the Neurosurgeon to diagnose the problem after surgery to remove a splinter impinging on my spinal cord.

During the two months I was not able to work or function due to the unrelenting pain. I was told at the time I would have to take it for the rest of my life. After starting the Oxycodone I was able to live a mostly normal life. I returned to work and finally retired 20+ years later.

I have NOT allowed the drug to take possession of my life. I take the minimal dose to allow me to hold the pain to a manageable level, as my doctor has said, if she increased my dosage to eliminate all of my pain I would not be able to function. I haven't increased my dosage for several years. I have (under Doctors care) tried several alternatives - none were at all effective in any way in reducing my pain.

The current situation regarding opiates has adversely affected many people I personally know that are NOT ABUSING drugs. There are many, many more persons that do not abuse the opiates that are necessary to allow them to live normally, than the "drug abusers".

This is much like alcohol. The same statements were used by the "Anti's" that resulted in Prohibition and the same arguments can be used, however in my opinion there is NO substitute for opiates for those like me.

I am not normally a vengeful person, but at this time I hope every politician and media person that is calling for the abolition of opiates ends up with a situation like mine and cannot obtain a useful pain reliever!

I don't have the answer to the drug abuse problem nor understand why some people cannot use the opiates as I and many others have without abusing them..

 

[Opie]

Had 76 OD death investigations in Evansville/Vanderburgh county last year.

Suprisingly, OD deaths are good business for dealers. If people die on your dope, everyone lines up to get it. Strange, but true.

Narcan use is up this year, so we have less deaths. With that said heroin use is higher than it has ever been.

Indy and Louisville kept telling us it was coming. Then it started coming from Chicago and St. Louis like crazy once they added time release agents to OTC pain medicine (the binding agents in the pills would not allow the user to break them up and get that immediate rush) When it arrived in 2012, heroin was $600/gram. You can buy it for $150-200/gram now.

This first year was bad, they were sending junk heroin that was 10-50% heroin and the rest was cut. People got used to that dosage. When the good heroin got here people started dying on the better dope as they were taking too much. Fast forward to this year, EVERY single bit of heroin in SW Indiana is cut with fentanyl. Fentanyl is also being pressed into pill form, mainly oxy, roxy, and other commonly recognized Rx pills. The guys making these pills are not pharmacists, and our overdoses are through the roof. Narcan is keeping the deaths down, but more people are using and overdosing than ever.

I wish we had crack cocaine back, at least it is not transdermal or water soluble! Meth labs are down, I guess that is a bonus.

 

[thunderchicken]

There is another side to the narcotics issue. I am now 77 yo, in the 1980's I was prescribed Oxycodone due to contracting arthritics of the spine. It took 2 months for the Neurosurgeon to diagnose the problem after surgery to remove a splinter impinging on my spinal cord.

During the two months I was not able to work or function due to the unrelenting pain. I was told at the time I would have to take it for the rest of my life. After starting the Oxycodone I was able to live a mostly normal life. I returned to work and finally retired 20+ years later.

I have NOT allowed the drug to take possession of my life. I take the minimal dose to allow me to hold the pain to a manageable level, as my doctor has said, if she increased my dosage to eliminate all of my pain I would not be able to function. I haven't increased my dosage for several years. I have (under Doctors care) tried several alternatives - none were at all effective in any way in reducing my pain.

The current situation regarding opiates has adversely affected many people I personally know that are NOT ABUSING drugs. There are many, many more persons that do not abuse the opiates that are necessary to allow them to live normally, than the "drug abusers".

This is much like alcohol. The same statements were used by the "Anti's" that resulted in Prohibition and the same arguments can be used, however in my opinion there is NO substitute for opiates for those like me.

I am not normally a vengeful person, but at this time I hope every politician and media person that is calling for the abolition of opiates ends up with a situation like mine and cannot obtain a useful pain reliever!

I don't have the answer to the drug abuse problem nor understand why some people cannot use the opiates as I and many others have without abusing them..

Good point

 

[Lilboog82]

Have you personally seen this? I have and do. I still feel good about saving the life even if it’s The 10th time

i think 3 times in 24 hours is our ER record for the same person

Unfortunately yes, work in a hospital setting. I will do what I have too, but it does wear on me and make me a little jaded. Wasting time and resources which could be used on someone in a real emergency situation.

 

[drawer86]

Anyone requiring that gov't service should also be required to pay a large fee for that service, maybe $10k, for saving their life.
Yes, you can get blood out of a turnip, the IRS does it thousands of times everyday.

 

[Phase2]

I don't see this as a complete solution, but it has the potential to make an impact on Fentanyl ODs:

This $1 Strip Might Curb The Opioid Crisis

 

[jamesL84]

It's ridiculous. At first, everyone who thinks that such strips work well should understand one simple thing. Those strips don't guaranteed to detected all forms of fentanyl. So you can't be sure that you use drugs without any fetanyl in it. You can read more about this topic on Addiction Resource. In my opinion, our government should provide preventive actions. Everybody should know that opiod drugs became more dangerous then ever. Yes, it's not solution. But this test (strips) can give a green lights for all opiod-addicted people use drugs without fear.