Life-saving drugs nasal spray administered by police for the first time in the Borders

Police Scotland has rolled-out Naloxone to operational officers in The Lothians and Scottish Borders.

Pouches containing two intra-nasal Naloxone sprays, plus casualty information cards have been distributed for the first time to all constables, sergeants and inspectors, numbering around 630 in the division.

Naloxone is an emergency first aid treatment for use in a potentially life-threatening overdose situation. It works by reversing the respiratory suppression caused by opioids/opiates and can buy the casualty critical minutes until ambulance clinicians arrive on scene.

The spray was administered by the first time in the Borders by a police officer on a man in Galashiels on Wednesday, March 8, members of Scottish Borders Council’s Police, Fire and Rescue and Safer Communities Board were informed this week.

Chief Inspector Vinnie Fisher said: “We’ve personally rolled out Naloxone in the Scottish Borders and we had our first successful administration of that by one of the officers on a man in Galashiels on the eighth of March, and that’s a nasal spray that counters the effects of a potential overdose.”