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Indiana State University equips police with opioid antidote

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) – Indiana State University Police are the first higher education law enforcement division in the state to learn how to use a drug that can revive people who overdose on opioids or heroin.

A nurse practitioner taught 26 officers how to recognize an opiate overdose and administer naloxone Tuesday in Terre Haute. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and state Sen. Jim Merritt attended the training.

Merritt was co-author of the Indiana Lifeline law passed last year to allow first responders to administer the intra-nasal drug during overdose emergencies.

The (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reports that Zoeller went to the training to congratulate school officials for embracing the potentially life-saving antidote.

According to the Indiana Attorney General’s office, naloxone is an opioid antagonist that counteracts the effects of prescription painkiller or heroin overdose.