ATHENS, Texas — For the first time, Narcan was used to save someone from an overdose in the Henderson County Jail in April.
"It looks like extreme drowsiness, slurred speech, it basically looked like he was incoherent," said Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse.
His deputies arrested a man that suffered from those symptoms. The man was taken into the Henderson County Jail for aggravated assault and for possession of fentanyl.
"He seemed to be highly intoxicated on fentanyl," Hillhouse said.
That’s when deputies in the jail had to use Narcan for the first time to treat the suspect’s fentanyl overdoes.
"All those signs along with all the drugs we had already seized, we knew that we probably should deploy the Narcan," Hillhouse said. "We did get it in his nasals, and it reversed the effects it came around."
The sheriff’s office has had Narcan on hand for a few years now, donated by the HOPE project, who also provided deputies training.
"Recently TDEM (Texas Department of Emergency Management) also provided us with some Narcan," Hillhouse said.
In another case, the sheriff added they found a significant amount of fentanyl at home, where a woman was shot and killed in April.
"We found more fentanyl there so yes, it’s definitely here, it’s prevalent, and it’s dangerous," Hillhouse said.
To crack down on drugs, Hillhouse said they’re working with other agencies.
"We are working as diligently as we can. Any information we get we follow up on that to get it off the streets," Hillhouse said.
Within the last three weeks, the sheriff’s office said they had three incidents where fentanyl was taken off the streets.