Law enforcement officials in Indianapolis will soon carry a portable antidote that stops heroin overdoses on contact.
The city's public safety director told the Associated Press that the pilot project, which is slated to start in March, addresses a spike of heroin overdoses in Indianapolis over the past three years.
Troy Riggs said the number of Indianapolis-area residents who died from overdose has more than doubled since 2011. Emergency medical response teams answer overdose calls two times a day on average, according to city records obtained by the Associated Press.
In 2013 alone, the city saw 95 deaths from the drug.
The antidote, named Narcon, reverses a heroin overdose by sending victims into withdrawal, allowing them to breathe and their heart rate to speed up. Medical officials already carry doses of Narcon, AP reported.
The Indianapolis police's announcement comes just one day after the Obama Administration urged local police and fire departments around the nation to carry Naloxone, another antidote used to revive victims of an overdose.
"Because police are often the first on the scene of an overdose, the Obama administration strongly encourages local law enforcement agencies to train and equip their personnel with this lifesaving drug," the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske told IOL News.
