FRANKLIN COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Franklin County deputies saved a man over the weekend with a new drug they have at their disposal.
"Narcan" is administered through the nose to allow people who are over-dosing on Heroin or opiates to breathe.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office is actually one of only seven offices in the country to have all of its deputies equipped with the drug.
It was made available by a grant from the National Sheriff's Association just this month, and already deputies have been able to put it to use to save a man's life.
Medical Deputy Megan Patterson says a squad responded to a distress call Saturday night for a man who was unresponsive.
Patterson says in this situation, Narcan was the only option to save the man's life.
"Opiods cover over top of the receptor and they slow your breathing, so that you can't breathe anymore, and it slows it and slows it and slows it until you can't breath. What this stuff does, it actually works to push that, those Opiates off of that receptor," said Patterson.
Deputies quickly administered the Narcan, which is done as a spray through the nose.
"Within just a couple moments, minutes, the individual was more coherent and coming back, breathing started to increase, and was transported to the hospital for further observation, so the drug worked the way it's supposed to," said Sheriff Bill Overton.
Patterson says the department was inspired to apply for the grant after seeing a rise in cases like these.
"It's just an epidemic that's all over the United States, that you've got Heroin and Opiates that are just running wild and they're taking lives that they don't need to be taking," said Patterson.
Now, every deputy in the Franklin County department, in schools, jails, or patrol cars, are equipped and trained to use the substance at a moments notice.
"It makes me feel great that I have another tool to save another life," said Patterson.
Patterson says the department is also willing to train civilians how to use the drug, in the event a person they know is in danger of over-dosing.
That's because taken by itself, Patterson says Narcan is harmless, with the only side affect of causing nosebleeds.
She says people interested can contact the department directly.