'Life-saving' spray reverses woman's overdose

Getty Images A hand holding a packet of medication up to the camera. In the packet is a nasal spray, with a generic non-brand label reading 'Naloxone HCI Nasal Spray".Getty Images
Naloxone is also known by brand names like Narcan, Nyxoid and Kloxxado

A nasal spray which works to reverse the effects of drug overdoses has been used by a South Yorkshire Police officer for the first time.

Sgt Simon Pickering used the Naloxone spray to help a woman found unresponsive in Sheffield city centre after a suspected overdose on 3 January.

He said within five minutes the woman had begun to respond, adding: "It stopped her from going into cardiac arrest and potentially saved her life."

Sgt Pickering and a colleague stayed with the woman until paramedics arrived.

'Buys crucial time'

Data released in October 2024 showed 5,448 drug-related deaths were recorded in England and Wales in 2023, the highest since records began 30 years earlier.

Some South Yorkshire Police officers began carrying Naloxone in December, and it is still being rolled out to staff.

"As police officers, our overriding priority is to save and preserve lives, and Naloxone does just that," said Det Ch Insp Mark Oughton.

"The administering of it buys crucial time for medical intervention by paramedics and hospital staff."

Naloxone, which can also be given as an injection, reverses overdoses from opioids like heroin, morphine, methadone, fentanyl and nitazenes.

It blocks the receptors in the brain that opiates would bind to, preventing them from having dangerous effects such as slowing down or stopping the user's breathing.

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