It takes a matter of seconds, and it can change everything.

Nearly 16,000 people in New Jersey have been successfully revived using Narcan since 2015, a staggering number that shows the astounding success of the anti-overdose drug as well as the frightening reality of just how many people have been brought to the brink of death by opioids.

The drug, which is most commonly administered through a nasal spray, has become an indispensable tool for law enforcement officers on the front lines of a grueling battle.

Kari Phair, chief of the Summit E.M.S., said she administered it on a 16 year-old almost immediately after her crew was approved for use of the drug in 2016.

"I work in Summit, and I hear a lot 'oh no, it's not in Summit.' We had one day where we gave it three times. We gave it to a 65 year-old recently," she said. "This really knows no race, no class. You see it across all walks of life."

Using the state Open Public Records Act, NJ Advance Media obtained data from the New Jersey State Police on every time a law enforcement or emergency official in the the state has used Narcan since 2015, when it first became widely used.

The data shows the average number of doses of Narcan required per individual has risen each year, which officials attribute to the proliferation of ultra-powerful fentanyl to the opioid market.

So far in 2018, 45 percent of individuals who received Narcan required at least two doses, up from 32 percent in 2015. In February, a 52-year-old man in the custody of the Union County Department of Corrections received seven doses. He lived.

"It doesn't reverse an overdose, it just blinds it for 30 to 45 minutes," said Paul Kennedy, of the Middletown Township First Aid and Rescue Squad. "Three quarters of them refuse to go to the hospital when they come out of it. And they have every right to refuse. They ask 'Why?' And we'll say 'Well, you were dead.' And if they had taken enough, then there's the possibility they would go back into respiratory distress when it wears off."

The demographics are also stark. Nearly 80 percent of the people who have received Narcan are white, with an average age of 33. The average African American who receives Narcan is a full six years older, at 39, showing the crisis is affecting a different segment of that population.

Lives in N.J. saved by Narcan in 2018

Use the drop down menus below to explore the Narcan database

Like most data on substance use, the State Police data is imperfect. For example, the state attorney general's opioid tracking site, NJ CARES, lists 34,000 administrations of Narcan from 2015 to 2016. Officials say some emergency responders are likely submitting summary data instead of filling out the required forms each time the drug is used in the field.

Still, the numbers reveal a great deal about the opioid crisis in New Jersey. In all, 23,887 doses of Narcan have been administered by emergency officials to at least 17,964 individuals from 2015 to February 2018. In all but 6 percent of cases, the person survived.

The data also shows the scope of the problem. Officials say opioids make up the lion's share of the approximately 6,500 deaths blamed on drugs in New Jersey since 2015. Add to that the number of overdoses successfully reversed by Narcan and it shows at least 22,000 have been brought to the brink of death by drugs in just over three years.

Put another way, more people have overdosed in just three years than the entire populations of Millburn, West Deptford or North Plainfield.

"I've been doing this 26 years, and before a couple of years ago I could tell you how many times I administered it," said Phair. "It's surprising, it's kind of scary surprising how that's changed."

Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.