Federal Partnership Will Fund Southern W.Va. Naloxone Pilot

A federal grant will make a lifesaving drug available to State Troopers in three southern West Virginia counties.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Booth Goodwin announced the $100,000 grant in Princeton Wednesday.

The money comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and will help start a pilot program to train State Troopers in Mercer, McDowell and Wyoming Counties to administer Naloxone.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist- a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose and with additional medical treatment, can save a person’s life.

West Virginia has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the nation.

“That’s why it’s so critical for us to have tools like Naloxone freely available to law enforcement who very well could be the first responder on the scene and very likely save a life,” Goodwin said.

West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill during the 2015 legislative session to make Naloxone available to all law enforcement officers as well as friends and family members of addicts. That bill, however, did not provide funding for the medication.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.