Ontario eases rules to help police administer naloxone to treat overdoses

The Ontario government is amending legislation to allow police officers to immediately administer naloxone to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, without worrying they could be subject to an automatic investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU)if the person dies.

"With this amendment, Chiefs of Police will no longer be required to automatically notify SIU when a police officer has administered naloxone or other emergency first aid to a person who dies or suffers a serious injury, provided there was no other interaction that could have caused the death or serious injury," the provincial government announced in a news release Tuesday.

The change is "significant," saidDon Lewis, the acting deputy police chief in Thunder Bay. "It's helpful and encouraging, and in an already stressful situation it's nice to see this has been lifted."

Investigations by the SIU can sometimes take between six to nine months, and be very stressful, he said.

'Saving the lives of people that need it'

"I'm not suggesting there was ever any hesitation by our officers in administering naloxone, but if there was that would be a huge barrier that would now be lifted and there would be no hesitation in administering it to those that needed it, so yes it could have a high probability of assisting in saving the lives of people that need it," said Lewis.

The amendment, Ontario Regulation 267/10, means police "will now be on par with other emergency first responderssuch as paramedics or firefighterswho can carry and administer naloxone but are not subject to the same level of oversight," the government stated.

"When there's someone in crisis, the police are most often the first to respond in most of these cases and they're there, and they can feel quite free to assist people without the fear of repercussions," said Lewis.

It is not yet mandatory for officers to carry naloxone kits, but he estimated that about 50 per cent of the Thunder Bay Police Service already does.