Thanks to a 2016 Drug Free Communities Grant from the Drug Free Marion County initiative, Lawrence Police Department officers will receive a new tool to help combat heroin use and overdoses.
The Lawrence Police Department was awarded a nearly $5,000 grant in late December of 2015 that will provide Narcan kits for more than 80 full-time and reserve officers. The kits contain naloxone, a prescription drug that reverses an opioid overdose. Opioids, including heroin, oxyxodone, hydrocodone, codeine and methadone, can slow or stop a person’s breathing during an overdose and lead to death. Naloxone assists with keeping overdose victims awake and breathing.
All Lawrence officers will be equipped with a Narcan kit and will have completed training on how to use the kits by mid-March, allowing first responding officers to administer Narcan in an effort to reduce the life-threatening results of heroin and opiate-related overdoses in the community.
“As a police department, we understand the life-saving need for these kits and the positive impact they provide to help address the heroin and opiate-related overdose problem the state of Indiana faces,” stated Lawrence Deputy Chief Curtis Bigsbee, who’s efforts helped win the grant funds for the department.
