Grants Pass, Ore. — Police in Grants Pass will soon carry a drug to help people during an overdose.
The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety made the formal decision to start carrying noloxone in police and fire vehicles a few weeks ago. Noloxone is a drug that can help people survive an opioid overdose.
“We can have times when that ambulance is tied up. Where our firefighters are tied up, and certainly it makes sense that officers should have the ability to use that should they have the need to come on someone that has overdosed,” Chief Bill Landis said, Department of Public Safety.
Chief Landis said they’re partnering with the Department of Public Health to train police officers and firefighters on administering the drug. Grants Pass Police said they hope to have noloxone in police cars and fire trucks by next month. This fall, every Oregon pharmacy was given the option of prescribing naloxone.
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