Eunice Police equipped with anti-overdose drug

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Eunice Police are being equipped with naloxone, a drug to reverse opioid overdoses.
The drug was obtained through a a $1 million legal settlement between the state and Pfizer.
In a news release, state Attorney General Jeff Landry said Eunice Police are to receive 40 vials of naloxone.
“The abuse and misuse of opioids throughout Louisiana is a public safety crisis that has unfortunately taken the lives of many of our State’s people,” Landry siad, “I appreciate the pro-active work done by our first responders to fight back against this epidemic, and I am glad we are able to give them the naloxone at no cost to the Eunice Police Department.”
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said, “We’ve had several reported overdoses. We had two confirmed deaths from that in the last year and there are possibly other cases that haven’t been reported to us.”
There have been no confirmed heroin overdoses, he said.
“I’m not saying is it is not possible some of them were, but some of it is going to be prescription overdoses and we have a lot of ... legal weed, synthetics,” he said.
According to Landry’s news release, drug overdoses now surpass automobile accidents as the leading cause for injury-related death for Americans between the ages of 25 and 64.
Louisiana is unfortunately one of the top 10 states for these drug overdoses, with about 780 Louisiana residents dying from prescription overdoses each year, it stated.
Last year, Eunice Police Department received 60 opioid-related calls, Landry said.
The naloxone is a lifesaver and it can also be used to save the lives of officers who may be accidentally exposed while performing their duties, Fontenot said in the news release.
Naloxone has a shelf life of approximately 16 to 24 months; and, at this time, there is no limit on how much product or how often Eunice Police may request and obtain the medicine, Landry’s news release stated.