MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. — A new program is up and running in Mountlake Terrace spearheaded by the city's police department.
Police are working to get the opioid-reversal drug, Narcan, into the hands of community members.
"When someone's in need of it, you pull the dose out, and they administer it,” said Scott King, commander with the Mountlake Terrace Police Department. “One nice thing about Narcan is you cannot overdose it with it. So, if someone doesn't respond right away, we can use another dose and another dose.”
King said Mountlake Terrace officers have been equipped with Narcan since 2019. He said their officers save a handful of people with Narcan every year. Last year, the department saved three lives. The department saved five people in 2022.
"There's a great need to have Narcan in our community,” King said. “There's an opioid epidemic, we counter it every day."
According to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner, there were 267 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2022. Last year that number jumped to 317. These numbers along with a service worker at the department convinced King to secure a grant from the Washington Department of Health in November. It will expand the department's efforts.
"They give us Narcan that we can give out to the community, so if we have a community member in need who might have addiction problems or if they have a family that has people who have addiction problems we can provide Narcan to them," King said.
Community members can go to the police station to retrieve a dose of Narcan or ask an officer for it out in the field.
"It's amazing we can spray something into somebody's nose who is virtually deceased and bring them back to life," King said.
The Mountlake Terrace Police Department gets its Narcan supply for free from the state and Snohomish County Health Department.