With Overdoses on the Rise, Police Offer New Services

Narcan training is available at the Yarmouth Police Department.

Narcan training is available at the Yarmouth Police Department.

YARMOUTH – As the number of heroin and other opioid-related overdoses–including fatal ones–continues to rise across the region, the Yarmouth police department is hosting meetings and offering training to try to combat the problem.

As of December 4, the department had responded to six overdoses. Within the next week, there were four more overdoses.

The police department is hosting Learn to Cope meetings, which are typically held each Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Yarmouth Police Station.

Learn to Cope meetings are run by experienced facilitators. The meetings offer support, education, resources, and hope for recovery.

The meetings include guest speakers from time who are either professionals in the field of addiction or people in long-term recovery. The group is made up of parents, not professionals. Anything said in these meetings stays in the meeting for the respect of families’ privacy.

Tonight’s meeting on Tuesday, December 16, will be held at the Yarmouth Senior Center on Forest Road in South Yarmouth at 7 p.m.

The department is also offering Narcan training.

Narcan is a prescription drug known as Naloxone which is a pure opioid antagonist. Unlike other opioid receptor antagonists it has no concomitant agonist properties. Naloxone is a drug used to counter the effects of opioid overdose, such as heroin or morphine specifically the life-threatening depression of the central nervous system, respiratory system, and hypotension secondary to opiate overdose.

Narcan is available to anyone in Massachusetts at no cost upon completion of a 30 minute training session.

The Yarmouth Police Department hosts Narcan training and distribution every Tuesday evening at 7PM in the Community Room at Yarmouth Police Headquarters through a non-profit Support Group known as Learn to Cope. The meetings and trainings are completely confidential and are done at no cost.



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