The East Lansing police reported at least two overdose patients have been saved since the department began requiring all officers to carry Naloxone kits.
President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency last week.
The Michigan Health & Human Services department said more than 23-hundred people in our state died from drug overdoses last year.. fewer people were killed in car wrecks.
Lt. Chad Connelly with the East Lansing police department said the opioid epidemic does not discriminate. It affects all genders, races and socio-economic classes.
“There’s a lot of misconception about who is an opioid abuser, from our experience it is high schoolers all the way to the elderly," said Lt. Connelly.
Earlier this year, all 54 officers in the department were required to carry small purple and yellow colored Naloxone kits. The National Institute on Drug Abuse said the kits rapidly reverse opioid overdose. Officers can then call for professional emergency medical help.
"They're small little cartridges," said Lt. Connelly. "They're probably about a half inch thick. We can carry them around in our pockets or in our bags while we're on patrol."
The kits contained needles that can inject the medicine right into a part of the body, like the thigh.
And so far, the kits have saved lives in East Lansing.
"Since them being rolled out just a few months ago, we've had two successful saves using them for subjects who were overdosing," said Lt. Connelly.