Saturday, 6 November 2021

Police say Narcan was used on a security officer at Astroworld who passed out and had a prick on his neck that looked like a possible injection

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner speaks during a news conference, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, in Houston, after several people died and scores were injured during a music festival the night before.
AP Photo/Michael Wyke

At least 8 attendees died during Travis Scott's performance in Houston on Friday night.
Medical staff working the event said they revived a security officer who they alleged was drugged.
Overdose expert Peter Davidson said it's unlikely the security officer was injected with drugs.

Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner said during a press conference Saturday that medical staff at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival reported a security officer was administered Narcan after attempting to restrain an attendee.

"We do have a report of a security officer, according to the medical staff that was out and treated him last night, that he was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and he felt a prick in his neck," Finner said.

-CBS News (@CBSNews) November 6, 2021

The medical staff examined the unconscious security officer and administered Narcan, an emergency treatment for opioid overdoses, Finner said at the press briefing. He added that medical staff noticed a prick on the individual's neck.

"A lot of narratives out there right now. A lot of them," Finner said. "We just ask that y'all give us time to do a proper investigation."

When individuals are revived with Narcan, toxicology is rarely conducted, making it difficult to verify what exactly happened, according to Peter Davidson, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego and expert on drug overdoses.

Narcan is a nasal spray prescription medicine that is used to treat known or suspected opioid overdoses. The medicine is considered an "opioid antagonist," meaning it attaches to opioid receptors, reversing and blocking the effects of opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dr. Ryan Marino, medical director of toxicology and addiction medicine at University Hospitals in Cleveland, told Insider that stories about people doling out their own expensive drugs to strangers or trying to inject people with needles are "almost always nothing more than urban legends and are not borne in reality."

Davidson concurred that it is "pretty unlikely" that the security officer was injected with drugs.

"If it did happen, it would be staggeringly rare. This is not typically the way that people assault one another," Davidson told Insider.

Still, Davidson added that he has no criticism of the medical team that administered Narcan in case the security officer overdosed. If Narcan is administered to someone who does not have any opioids in their system, it will have no effect on them, Davidson said.

Marino also advocated that Narcan should be readily available at places like festivals.

In addition to the security officer incident, at least 8 attendees died and another 300 were injured in a mass casualty event during Scott's performance on Friday night. Organizers ended the event and canceled the second day of the festival.

Insider has reached out to HPD for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider