MILLTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) -- A small southern Indiana police department has a big tool in its arsenal, and it is already saving lives.
Milltown Police officers are now carrying NARCAN, which is used to treat narcotic overdoses in emergency situations.
"The heroin and opioid epidemic is spreading from the larger communities out to the rural areas," Milltown Police Chief Marshal Ray Saylor said.
Saylor said the opioid epidemic has gone from bad to worse and is even a threat to officers. That threat has grown because of drugs laced with fentanyl.
"There have been officers throughout the United States that have come in contact with fentanyl who have become seriously sick, and it has become fatal," Saylor said.
As a result, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration issued an advisory, warning police and the public: Fentanyl Exposure Kills. So Saylor took steps to train, certify and arm all of his officers with NARCAN.
"We started placing that in the vehicles with the officers so that whenever they're on duty, they have the NARCAN with them," he said.
"It is definitely something that is needed," said Carrie Herthel, an administrator with the Harrison County Health Department.
The Harrison County Health Department is providing the training and NARCAN to the Milltown Police Department and any other local first responders.
"We have given out approximately 200 doses of NARCAN here locally and trained just over a hundred responders," Herthel said.
Saylor said going forward, all new officers will be trained and certified to use NARCAN before they hit the streets.
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