95 percent of El Paso County Sheriff deputies now carry Narcan

EL PASO, Texas– Lieutenant Emmanuel Soria, with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said that opioid overdoses have been a problem and are now becoming even more apparent.

Ninety-seven people died by opioid overdose in El Paso County in 2021, almost twice the amount of opioid overdoses there were in 2018, according to data the medical examiner provided to El Paso Matters.

“Recently it started to become a big problem and I think that's something we are starting to look at not only locally but nationally. It’s a trend that has spiked significantly during the last two years I would say,” said Soria.

He said that since the start of the pandemic in 2020, El Paso started to see a spike in overdoses.

He said that's because people dealing with mental health issues would turn to drugs.

As of 2022 deputies have administered 3 doses of Narcan, medicine used to reverse opioid overdoses, according to Soria.

He said in the last 6 months they have started a program to have all deputies be trained for Narcan.

Soria said about 95 percent of all of his deputies have Narcan on hand and said the goal is to get everybody equipped.

He expects that to be within the next 6 months or less.

Soria said they have a training coordinator that comes to the station and gives a 2 hour training on how it works and how to use it.

Deputies learn what symptoms to look for, however if the deputy were to administer the medicine and it’s not an opioid overdose, it is harmless to the individual.

Just law week El Paso Sheriff's Deputies came to the aid of two people by administering one dose of Narcan to each person.

“It’s very important in today's age, we see it very often, it’s a dangerous drug, it only takes 2 milligrams of fentanyl to kill an adult human, and so not only is it important that they carry it for citizens but also for us as well,” said Emmanuel Soria, Lieutenant for El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.