In my county EMS carries morphine and benzodiazepines. Benzos are used to break seizures and calm people that are freaking out. Last ride along I was on, we responded to a fall with a likely hip fracture, and they gave a dose or 2 of morphine before moving her from the floor to the gurney. She was completely stable with a broken bone, no need to scoop and run.
ETA, I mean, they checked her vital signs and got the history and such first, but there was no reason to rush. It also did not impair the ER docs.
The ambulance I rode in back in 2013 carried morphine. I had fallen on some stairs in a hotel and broken my tibia and fibula (I tried to sit up and straighten my leg. My leg moved, but my foot did not move with it! I thought: “Oh, shit, I have really fucked up my leg!” The ambulance crew put a splint on my lower leg and put me on the gurney. By the time I was in the back of the ambulance, I was starting to shiver. They put in an IV and started to give me some medication. “What is that?” “Morphine” “How much?” “10 milligrams” “That’s a lot!” “Yeah, and it is not going to be enough” He gave me 14 mg of morphine before I stopped shivering. I was surprised it didn’t knock me out.
When I was studying to be an EMT, I did a few ride alongs with the St. Louis City Fire Department. This was in the late 90s. At that time they didn’t carry any narcotics. I was told this was so that they wouldn’t be a target for people looking to steal them. Whether that was the actual reason or just that one guy’s opinion, I don’t know. But I do know that when you do a call on a guy who ran his foot under a lawnmower, and the strongest thing you have to give him for pain is Valium, he will scream all the way to the hospital.
Not unheard of, but not common either. EMS types will tend to draw people trying to claim they had money and that the ambulance crew stole it. If a given EMT/medic is prone to this type of behavior, a pattern will develop quickly. Similar stories crop up claiming firefighters stole money from fire scenes or cops kept money that should have gone with suspects personal property. Generally, the $100 in someones wallet isn’t worth your career/pension/licence.
The kind of cash volume police officers encounter would be IMHO far more tempting. I know of one firefighter who was terminated for a cash theft, but he also bragged about it to a coworker.
I worked for two ambulance services during my EMS career. One company required medics to keep all controlled substances on their person for the shift. The other kept them in a locked box on the truck. I’ve also heard instances of assault/robbery for opioids but they are rare.
I am now an emergency nurse practitioner. EMS administration of medications prehospital rarely if ever hinder our diagnostic abilities. It’s unusual for EMS to make the patient completely unresponsive, So the patient is able to give us a good history of their pain. EMS usually gives a good story too. Factor in labwork and imaging studies and I can usually determine what is wrong (or at least what isn’t wrong) with someone after the administration of pain medication.