dailybeast | M______ Charles M_____ turned 26 in jail on March 2, a week after his
arrest for misdemeanor heroin possession. But his entire life may as
well boil down to an inglorious 30 seconds of tightly edited video,
played on local news channels, that shows him nearly dying.
On
Feb. 18 a closed-circuit surveillance camera captured him shooting
heroin, then falling out of his seat on a crowded city bus in Philly
suburb, Upper Darby. The video cuts to a police officer hovering over
the unconscious man and applying a dose of the powerful overdose
antidote naloxone.
Naloxone (sold under the brand name Narcan) has been the subject of
increasing media attention since the Food and Drug Administration
approved a nasal spray version of the drug in last November to reverse
the effects of opioid overdose, namely severe respiratory depression
that can be fatal if left untreated. Narcan works by reversing those
symptoms. A number of police departments now outfit their officers with
it, and changes to state laws have made the drug legal for sale over the
counter in some pharmacies. In 2014, Pennsylvania passed a law that
made naloxone available through a standing prescription to laypeople,
including drug addicts themselves and their families.
The video
footage of M_____’s overdose concludes with him back on his feet and
being escorted off the bus by police paramedics—a seemingly happy ending
to a nearly fatal tragedy.
But M_____’s story is anything but happy. And it’s far from over.
After
saving his life, the police arrested him for the tiny amount of heroin
(four baggies) they found on him. While M_____ suffered the first pangs
of opioid withdrawal in a jail cell (imagine severe flu combined with
anxiety and depression) the police humiliated him by tweeting a link to
the video provided by the transit authority.
It went viral.
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