The drug naloxone has been proven to prevent overdoses, if it is administered in time.

Since a 2014 law gave police officers in Pennsylvania access to the drug, it has been administered hundreds of times, potentially saving a life in each case.But there are still many departments across the state that do not carry the drug, for various reasons.Lansford Police Department was once one of those departments. But after saving nearly a dozen people with naloxone, more than any other police department in Carbon County, the department's officer in charge says that he cannot imagine working without it."As a police department, we realized that we can't arrest our way out of addiction issues. We have to have other options," Sgt. Jack Soberick said. "Our primary focus is to save a life."For a small borough of about 4,000 people, Lansford sees more crime than comparable municipalities. In 2015, police had more than 200 criminal arrests. According to Soberick, the overwhelming majority of those arrests are drug users or people involved in the sale of drugs."I don't want to say that we are full of addicts, junkies and crime, but unfortunately for the town it speaks to the addiction problems," he said.In late 2014, Harrisburg passed a law allowing first responders to carry naloxone to reverse drug overdoses. Access was given not only to ambulances, but also police departments, who are often the first emergency workers to respond to an overdose call.Many police departments jumped at the opportunity. Soberick said his initial thought was that it would lead to more reckless drug use. The fear, Soberick said, was that people would routinely risk overdose more often knowing that authorities could potentially save them."I was not initially for the program," he said. "I thought that people would take advantage of it because the police would be there to save them."The department ultimately acquired naloxone, but made a point of not telling anyone it was available. What they found was, no matter how many times they use naloxone, it still hasn't become routine."It was a bad feeling before when we would go (on an overdose call)," Soberick said. "You want to show the family that every effort is being exhausted."If there is a call for an overdose, police are usually the first ones on scene. If the person's breathing is stopped, or shallow, they'll administer a dose of naloxone, potentially saving the person's life.It's not an immediate effect. Oftentimes EMTs will have to administer a second dose to fully restore consciousness.A person who calls 911 to report a drug overdose cannot be prosecuted under state law.Since Act 139, Lansford has used naloxone in overdose cases about a dozen times. That is more than any other municipality in the county, and among the highest among small police departments in the state."They are doing good work, and we do appreciate they're carrying naloxone and such a small department," said Jason Snyder, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.When the state recognized departments that carry naloxone at a summit earlier this month, Lansford was conspicuously absent. After he raised the issue, Soberick heard from state officials that it was an oversight."It wasn't intentional," he said.Now that more departments around the state are carrying naloxone, Soberick says the next step is getting the people they help real addiction treatment. He favors the idea of a "warm exchange" where a person who suffers an overdose would be able to be taken immediately to drug treatment rather than to jail."We're saving lives. Now on the other side, the treatment side, we have to do something there," he said.And to departments that are still not carrying the drug - he said they aren't doing their job if they aren't using all the tools available to save their residents' lives."I know there are departments out there who are still not using it because they have reservations," he said."They really have to look at it again. Our primary goal is to save lives."