Schuylkill County coroner Dr. David Moylan this week proposed bulk ordering a prescription drug that restores breathing to people who have overdosed on opiates such as heroin.

The drug, naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan, would be stored at his Simon Kramer Institute in New Philadelphia and distributed from there to county police departments.Moylan said ordering in bulk would save money. Police could also be trained at the institute to use naloxone.Moylan made the proposal at a Schuylkill County Chiefs of Police Association meeting. The gathering was held at the courthouse in Pottsville.Moylan said naloxone kits would cost about $50 if assembled in-house.County Chief Detective Dolly Malec said officers who have spoken with her preferred the type of naloxone kit that is sprayed into a person's nostrils as opposed to the kind that is injected.One police chief at the meeting said his officers are uncomfortable about injecting the drug.Malec also said Pottsville emergency medical services would be willing to train officers in the use of the drug.Former Gov. Tom Corbett in September signed into law legislation that allows police to carry and use the drug to revive people who overdose.Narcotic drugs such as heroin, oxycodone, morphine, methadone, codeine and hydrocodone slow a person's breathing and central nervous system responses. Naloxone reverses that effect, waking the person and restoring breathing.Naloxone, which acts in two to five minutes, is harmless if given by mistake to someone who has not overdosed on opioids.Moylan's proposal will be considered by a committee that will also determine funding, training and coordinating the purchase and distribution, said county District Attorney Christine Holman.In other matters, Hillside SPCA staff Barbara Umlauf and Janine Choplick asked the chiefs for help in responding to cruelty cases.Umlauf said the "number and severity of abuse has tripled over the past two years" in the county.In particular, cruelty cases involving pit bulls have skyrocketed."The pit bull situation is horrible," she said. "The wrong people are breeding them, and the wrong people are buying them."Umlauf said animal hoarding has also increased, as has failure to provide medical care.Choplick spoke about what the organization can, and cannot, do. For example, it can do nothing about unlicensed dogs.She asked the chiefs to please install holding facilities for animals to stay in overnight as the shelter is open only during the day.Holman, answering a question posed by Minersville Police Chief David Combs, said officers are permitted to seize animals from dangerous or abusive situations.After Umlauf said about 2,000 animals came through the shelter last year, Combs spoke about a trap-neuter-release program in Minersville that successfully reduced the numbers of feral cats in that borough.The program also did not cost the borough anything, he said.Umlauf said the SPCA operates on about $800,000 a year, all from donations.