SCRANTON -- Governor Tom Wolf announced Tuesday that Pennsylvania State Police will now carry a lifesaving medication to combat overdose deaths.
The governor said troopers are being trained and soon all state police vehicles will have two doses of the prescription medication.
It is called Naloxone, also known as Narcan. It is an antidote to heroin and other opioid deaths.
State officials said grants from health insurance companies are helping pay for this effort.
Some local police departments have carried Narcan nasal spray for some time.
Scranton police have been carrying the prescription drug with them for two weeks now. The police chief said heroin use here and around the area is an "epidemic."
"I witnesses that myself in the past, being out in the field. I've been on the scene of an overdose and the patient gets administered with Narcan and they go from not breathing to actually sometimes being combative because it's such an adrenaline rush very quickly," said Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano.
People said they support the idea of law enforcement having the medication.
"I think it's a good idea because it could save a lot of lives and you know, if somebody is like on their deathbed and they inject it and it saves their lives, at least they could go to rehab instead of being dead," said Joe Szumski of Duryea.
"Instead of having to wait for the ambulance, you know, you could just have it right there on the scene and you could save some lives hopefully," said Jonathan Kaczmarczyk of Duryea.
Scranton`s police chief said it is important to remember, Narcan will not just be used for people who overdose on heroin.
“It could be used for somebody who accidentally overdoses a child who gets into their parents prescriptions which are opiate based. If we're first on the scene, we have the potential to save them, an elderly person who accidentally overdoses on their medication,” said Graziano.
According to state statistics, heroin and opioid overdoses are the leading cause of accidental deaths in the state. In 2013 alone, 2,400 people died as a result of them.