MPD To Begin Carrying Narcan In Fight Against Opioid Epidemic

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis police officers have a new weapon in the battle against drugs like prescription painkillers and heroin, and it all comes in a small orange box.

On Monday, the department began training officers with Naloxone, a life-saving drug often sold under the brand name Narcan. It can reverse the effects of an overdose in minutes.

The Minneapolis Police Department is the largest police department in the state, but it is one of the last state agencies to give its officers the drug.

Chief Medaria Arradondo says that after officers are trained on how to use Narcan, their primary responsibility is to save lives, not investigate as to where the opioids in question came from.

Firefighters and EMS workers in the city have been administering Narcan for years.

Officers in south Minneapolis will be the first to receive the Narcan training, as the city's south side has seen a high concentration of overdose emergencies and deaths.

Arradondo says the plan is to have every officer trained on how to administer the drug by the end of the year.

Each dose of the life-saving drug costs about $70.