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Tennessee sheriff’s office to carry opioid antidote

In this Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, file photo, a naloxone nasal injector is demonstrated during a news conference at the Oakley Kroger Marketplace store, in Cincinnati, to announce the supermarket chain's decision to offer the opioid overdose reversal medicine without a prescription. It is becoming easier for friends and family of heroin users or patients abusing strong prescription painkillers to get access to naloxone, a powerful, life-saving antidote, as state lawmakers loosen restrictions on the medicine to fight a growing epidemic.
In this Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, file photo, a naloxone nasal injector is demonstrated during a news conference at the Oakley Kroger Marketplace store, in Cincinnati, to announce the supermarket chain's decision to offer the opioid overdose reversal medicine without a prescription. It is becoming easier for friends and family of heroin users or patients abusing strong prescription painkillers to get access to naloxone, a powerful, life-saving antidote, as state lawmakers loosen restrictions on the medicine to fight a growing epidemic. In this Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, file photo, a naloxone nasal injector is demonstrated during a news conference at the Oakley Kroger Marketplace store, in Cincinnati, to announce the supermarket chain's decision to offer the opioid overdose reversal medicine without a prescription. It is becoming easier for friends and family of heroin users or patients abusing strong prescription painkillers to get access to naloxone, a powerful, life-saving antidote, as state lawmakers loosen restrictions on the medicine to fight a growing epidemic.

By Associated Press 1 min read

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The sheriff’s office for Tennessee’s third-largest county has begun carrying the opioid antidote naloxone, joining other emergency agencies.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Knox County Commissioners approved the acceptance of 108 naloxone kits from the Tennessee Health Foundation, granted by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation, and 200 two-packs of naloxone auto-injectors for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids on the respiratory system. Knoxville police have carried nasal naloxone kits, but the sheriff’s office is the only emergency agency in the county with auto-injectors.

The Metro Drug Coalition leads a naloxone task force on which all County emergency agencies, the health department and local hospital sit. Coalition project manager Deborah Crouse says increasing the availability of the antidote provides more second chances.