PEABODY — City officials are worried about the possible consequences of a state pilot program that distributes an overdose antidote to heroin addicts on the North Shore.

"Are we sending the wrong message to people? That it's OK to take heroin?" Peabody police Chief Robert Champagne said. "I don't think that's the intended message, but some might read it that way. I would rather send a message that says, 'Don't use it.'"

Champagne's concerns are shared by Mayor Michael Bonfanti and Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.

"I just don't see this as the right way to go," Blodgett said.

Locally, CAB Health & Recovery Services began providing Narcan — a medication able to reverse the effects of a potentially deadly overdose within minutes — to drug users in December. The North Shore is one of four areas across Massachusetts that the state Department of Public Health selected to test a program modeled after a Narcan distribution campaign in Boston.

Proponents of the program argue that it keeps addicts alive until they're ready to accept treatment. They reject the suggestion that it encourages or enables addicts to continue using.

"There's no empirical data that supports that perception," said Kevin Norton, president of CAB Health & Recovery Services.

Gary Langis, a program manager for CAB, highlighted an alarming spike in overdose deaths in Massachusetts — 100 in 1990 up to 544 in 2005 — as evidence that Narcan distribution is needed.

"We're trying to enable (addicts) to live as long as they can," Langis said.

CAB staffers teach addicts how to administer Narcan, which is ingested in a mist form. One person squirts it up the nose of another person who has overdosed.

"Anybody can be trained to administer it," Norton said. "(Training) takes all of a minute or two."

Heroin attaches itself to receptors in the brain and slows a user's breathing and heart rate. Within 30 to 90 seconds, Narcan knocks heroin off the receptors. In less than two minutes, the user regains consciousness.

Narcan, known generically as naloxone, effectively treats any opiate-related overdose. It has been used by first responders and emergency room doctors for years. CAB gives out kits that contain two doses of the medication.

"My concern is, what's the message that we're sending when we're giving (Narcan) to people who are not (medical) professionals?" Blodgett said.

Blodgett was one of four district attorneys in the state to endorse clean needle legislation, and he has made combating the spread of opiates a priority. But Narcan distribution doesn't fit into his fourfold philosophy — education, intervention, prevention and prosecution.

"We need to do more in terms of encouraging people not to do drugs," Blodgett said.

He envisioned the possibility of Narcan becoming a commodity on the street and people selling it in the same way they deal drugs.

City officials voiced their concerns at a recent meeting with program supporters.

The fear of criminal prosecution typically compels addicts to flee the scene of an overdose, Champagne said.

"It's our experience that when someone overdoses, they're abandoned by the people who they're with," he said.

Ingesting Narcan needs to be immediately followed by a trip to the hospital, according to the chief.

"Once Narcan is administered, it's not the end of the (treatment) process," Champagne said. "It should be the beginning."

CAB instructs people to call 911 and to stay with the individual who has overdosed, Norton said.

"The first thing we talk about is calling 911," Langis said.

CAB's outreach to drug users incorporates "harm reduction" education that includes vein care, prevention of HIV and hepatitis C, and CPR training. Narcan is another tool in the agency's toolbox, Langis said. Not only is it available to addicts, but friends and family members of addicts can be trained to administer it.

"If it saves one life," Langis said. "that's plenty."

Since December, the program has reversed 10 to 12 overdoses on the North Shore, he said.

CAB's outreach team distributes Narcan, and it's available at the organization's facilities in Lynn and Danvers. Bonfanti was frustrated that the state didn't reach out to cities and towns before launching the program.

"You hate to read about a program that will impact your community in the newspaper," he said.

At a time when heroin is cheap — as little as $4 a bag — and plentiful, Tom Lyons, spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, said the program addresses a pressing concern.

"The message that this (program) sends is that we don't want to tolerate an overdose epidemic," Lyons said.

The trial program will be formally evaluated after a year, and Peabody will ask the state to study whether it has any "enabling effects."

Despite divergent outlooks about the Narcan program, supporters and detractors share a common goal.

"We don't want anyone to die," Bonfanti said. "We want them to get the help they need."