US police use heroin antidote to save lives
More US adults die from drug overdoses than traffic accidents, but a $20-drug could change that.
Published On 10 Mar 2014
More adults in the US now die from drug overdoses than from traffic accidents.
To reduce the number of deaths, the US attorney general has released a video message calling for law enforcement staff to change the way they deal with heroin abuse.
The government is calling for a shift from arresting users to saving their lives.
A doctor convinced the Ohio state legislature to change the law so that police officers, usually the first on the scene, can administer a $20 life-saving drug to people who have overdosed.
Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane reports from Lorain County, Ohio.