It will soon be easier for police to reverse heroin and opioid overdoses.
Governor Maggie Hassan and the Department of Safety will create a new license for police that would allow them to administer a nasal spray called as naloxone, or Narcan. Narcan is what’s called an opioid antagonist, and it can save people in the throes of an overdose.
Police in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island have access to the drug.
"Heroine and opioid use is a very pressing public health and safety challenge facing communities throughout our state, and [Governor Maggie Hassan] knows that this is just one additional step," says William Hinkle is the governor’s spokesman.
The recommendation comes from the advice of an overdose task force, which also advised giving the nasal spray to firefighters and family members of addicts. Hinkle didn’t say if the governor plans to follow those recommendations as well.
