HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — A police department in southeastern New Mexico is the latest to join the ranks of law enforcement agencies armed with a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses.
The Hobbs Police Department announced Thursday that it has trained all of its commissioned personnel in the use of naloxone and has supplied each with two doses to have on hand while on duty.
New Mexico became the first U.S. state this year to require all local and state law enforcement agencies to provide officers with antidote kits as the state works to curb deaths from opioid and heroin overdoses.
Hobbs officials say the increased response time that officers may have prior to the arrival of paramedics could be the difference between life and death for someone experiencing an overdose.