Coroner Juan Wolffe has called on the Bermuda Hospitals Board to look at its policies regarding a drug which can save the lives of overdosing drug users.

Delivering his ruling at the inquest of 25-year-old Christopher Spencer, who died in 2012 of a heroin overdose, he said that the BHB should reconsider the use of Naloxone (also known as Narcan).

The inquest had heard that the drug can reverse an opiate overdose in a matter of minutes, but EMTs were required to get approval from a doctor before administering the drug.

While EMTs said the process takes a matter of seconds and the drug would not have assisted Mr Spencer, who was dead when they arrived on scene, Mr Wolffe said that reconsidering the policy might save lives in the future.

“While I accept that not much time would have elapsed, there should at least be some training at least on a provisional level to administer Narcan,” he said.

During the inquest, the court had heard that Mr Spencer had been using drugs for ten years and had been taking heroin for five. On October 27, 2012, he left home for several hours. When he returned, he spoke briefly to his mother, Lynn Spencer, before going to his room.

Some time later, Ms Spencer noticed the family dog whining at Mr Spencer’s door. She knocked on the locked door and called for her son, but called 911 after receiving no response.

Police officers and EMTs arrived at the Paget home minutes later and, after picking the lock to the door, discovered Mr Spencer slumped motionless in a chair with a needle lying by his feet.

He was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital by ambulance, where he was formally pronounced dead.

In his ruling, Mr Wolffe declared that Mr Spencer had died from acute cardio pulmonary failure secondary to heroin abuse.

Mr Wolffe expressed his condolences to Ms Spencer, saying that the road to sobriety is not an easy one for any drug addict.

“Most drug addicts, if they could stop themselves, would,” he said. “It’s an extremely difficult journey, the journey of recovery, and I’m sure your son was trying extremely hard.

“I think it’s an inquest that needed to be heard. It’s never going to give complete closure, but hopefully it answers some questions and hopefully by having an inquest we can learn more about how to deal with those who fall prey to drug use.

“I hope that Chris’s death is not in vain and hopefully there will be some looking at Narcan. If we can save one life, that’s good enough. Even if it’s just one.”

Speaking after the ruling, Ms Spencer said the result was bittersweet.

“I’m just so thankful that I went through with this and the fact that my wishes have been heard. Narcan is a life saver,” she said. “If I had known about Narcan before Chris died, I would have had it in my house somehow.

“You can walk into a drugstore in the US and just pick it up. Some people have said they thought it would make drug users use more, but that’s not true because a drug user overdosing isn’t going to give themselves Narcan. They are usually using with someone else, and that other person can potentially save their life. You never know if that one time will be the time that they become clean and sober and give back.

“Hopefully the Bermuda Hospitals Board will listen and take the recommendation of the coroner. Hopefully this will help someone else whose family is going through something like this, that my experience can help someone else.”

Asked what advice she would give to the family of drug addicts, she said: “Love them. Listen to them. The advice I was always given is don’t enable them.

“Call them out, put them on the street. I tried to do it, but I don’t believe that any of that helped.

“Get help for yourself. Focus Counselling would be my first recommendation. From there, they will put you on the right avenues as much as they can.

“Drug addicts don’t just fit some stereotype. It could be your son, your daughter, your mother or your father. Anyone.”