Since September, 237 residents in Ocean and Monmouth counties have learned how to use the nasal spray Naloxone, or Narcan, to prevent opioid overdose deaths.
A pilot program, currently operating in Ocean and Monmouth counties, that calls for police officers to carry and administer the drug Narcan to heroin overdose victims has been so successful in saving lives that it's being expanded across the Garden State.
Months after it was first announced, police departments throughout Monmouth County are beginning to supply officers with the heroin overdose antidote drug nalaxone, also known as Narcan.
As deaths from heroin and powerful painkillers skyrocket nationwide, governments and clinics in New Jersey and elsewhere are working to put a drug that can reverse an opiate overdose into the hands of more paramedics, police officers and the people advocates say are the most critical group - people who abuse drugs, and their friends and families.