New Police Procedure to Battle Heroin Addiction in DuPage County

 Posted on February 03, 2014 in Illinois Laws

The popularity of TV shows involving illegal drugs as a central theme could be seen as an indication of the issue’s presence in the everyday lives of many Americans. While not all people suffer from or are necessarily predisposed to drug addiction, the fact is that the use and abuse of illegal substances also carries with it an indirect effect on those people around the user. Those people affected may include friends and family, and can even extend so far as law enforcement, as is evidenced in a change in their procedure recently reported by a media outlet.

It was announced this week that the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office will now be carrying Narcan (Naloxone), a drug known to prevent heroin overdoses, in their squad cars. In doing so, they will become the first sheriff’s office in the state of Illinois to do so. The Sheriff’s Office is just one of the DuPage County’s Law Enforcement Agencies participating in the new DuPage Narcan Program (DNP).

Now, Sheriff’s Deputies will carry Narcan, which can reverse the process of a drug overdose and save the life of a drug user who may otherwise die. The logic is that often, deputies arrive on the scene of a reported incident before the paramedics or EMTs, and having them prepared to use the drug on a potential overdose victim could save a life. The change in procedure is, in part, a response to the 45 heroin related deaths that occurred in DuPage County in 2013.

While the Sheriff’s Office is still working to battle the presence of the drug in the community, the new Program serves to fulfill another aspect of their approach in directly helping those individuals who continue to struggle with addiction. Eventually, the idea is for the pilot program to prove successful enough to support the implementation of the new procedure in law enforcement agencies in all counties in the state of Illinois.

While this new procedure is ultimately meant to address a pressing issue faced by law enforcement when dealing with drug addicted individuals, the fact remains that that person will still have a host of other issues to deal with. Depending on the circumstances, they may be charged with multiple criminal offenses involving the possession of illegal drugs. In addition to fighting their addiction, they will have to also fight a legal battle in criminal court.

An experienced criminal defense attorney in Chicago can be invaluable in defending a client with drug charges. Our attorneys have a successful reputation of doing just that. If you or someone you know has been charged with a crime in Illinois involving illegal drugs, contact us today for a consultation.