By Stephanie Taylor
The Tuscaloosa News
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Money confiscated from suspected drug dealers in Tuscaloosa has been used to purchase a drug that can save people from opioid overdoses.
The West Alabama Narcotics Task Force spent $5,700 of confiscated drug money to buy 200 units of Naloxone, said Lt. Teena Richardson, a Tuscaloosa police spokeswoman.
Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, can reverse the respiratory depression that can lead to death when people overdose on heroin or other opiates.
The drug task force has donated 200 injectable Narcan shots that will be distributed to paramedics with the Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service, Northport Fire Rescue and the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Capt. Wayne Robertson, commander of the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force, said that the drug will save lives and that the task force will continue to purchase more as needed.
“This is one of the numerous ways the drug task forces gives back to the community,” he said.
Fourteen deaths in Tuscaloosa County have been ruled as accidental overdoses this year, said Lt. Kip Hart, Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit assistant commander. There are 32 pending death investigations, some if which could be ruled as accidental overdoses.
Of the 14 confirmed overdose victims, two had heroin metabolites in their system, two had used the opioid Fentanyl and two had used methadone, a drug used to treat patients who are addicted to heroin or morphine. Six overdose victims had Xanax and other drugs in their systems and one died from alcohol poisoning.
In 2015, 23 people died from confirmed accidental overdoses in Tuscaloosa County. There are four pending death investigations from 2015 that could be ruled overdoses.
Of the 23 in 2015, one person died from heroin and two from Fentanyl. One died from drug intoxication from synthetic marijuana, one died from caffeine toxicity and one died from inhaling chemicals from an aerosol can. One person died from an alcohol overdose.
Five overdose victims had Xanax and other drugs in their systems and five had used amphetamines or methamphetamine with other drugs.
Three had used morphine, but did not have the metabolite created by heroin in their systems.
Copyright 2016 The Tuscaloosa News