On-duty law enforcement officers across Maine will now be required to carry the overdose reversal drug naloxone.
Gov. Janet Mills signed a measure last week requiring officers carry the drug while on patrol duty, and also receive medical training.
Courtney Gary-Allen, with the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project, views the law as one piece of a larger effort to reduce accidental overdoses in the state.
"Especially in rural Maine, where an EMT may be farther away than in a city like Augusta or Portland. Police officers are often the first people to respond to an accidental overdose," Gary-Allen said. "And having Narcan on them, is going to give them access to a lifesaving medication that can reverse an opiate overdose.
Gary-Allen said that that while much more is needed to take on the opioid crisis, the measure will help to keep people alive.
"Because unless they're alive, we can't get them into treatment or recovery support services. And Narcan is our best way to do that, on the front lines," Gary-Allen said. "So I'm really grateful that across the state of Maine, our police officers will have this medicine on them at all time."
More than 10,000 overdoses were reported in Maine last year, and more than 700 people died from overdoses.
The new law goes into effect next year.
