Clark County police agencies receive opioid overdose kits
ON | Link to Original Article by the Arkadelphian
The kits are used to reverse an overdose from opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, codeine and oxycodone. Doses are administered nasally.
The Arkansas Opioid Recover Partnership allocated $675,000 worth of funds from an opioid settlement to purchase 15,000 kits for municipal and county law enforcement agencies in Arkansas.
Arkadelphia Police Chief Jason “Shorty” Jackson said Friday that his department added 48 kits to refresh the supply on hand at APD. Each APD policeman will now be supplied with a naloxone kit. Jackson said his officers, to date, have not had to administer the medication. There have been fewer than 10 occasions in Clark County in recent years when either law enforcement or emergency medical personnel have administered the medication, according to the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson said his office is now equipped with 48 doses.
The Gurdon, Caddo Valley and Amity police departments each got 12 kits, as did the police departments at Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University.
Funding for the kits became available after Arkansas received more than $200 million from the 2022 national opioid settlement.
