Frye, Attorney General Zoeller highlight narcan grant program
STATEHOUSE (Feb. 16, 2016) – State Rep. Randy Frye (R-Greensburg) welcomed Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller to the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and Public Safety meeting today to raise awareness of the naloxone grant program.
This grant is helping fund the training and equipping of Hoosier first responders in the use of naloxone, or narcan, which reverses a opioid drug overdose.
“Drug abuse is something that cannot be dealt with lightly,” Frye said. “The demand is so high for opioid drugs that we expect record numbers of overdoses this year throughout the state. This grant helps ensure that our first-responders have the tools they need to respond to overdose cases and save lives.”
“As we battle Indiana’s opioid addiction crisis, saving lives must be the priority,” said Zoeller, the creator and co-chair of Indiana’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force. “Overdose deaths continue to shock our communities, and equipping first responders with naloxone is a proven way to stop these deaths and give people a chance at treatment. Rep. Frye and I are working with volunteer firefighters to get them access to naloxone through my office’s grant program and other sources. The more people we have on the ground, prepared to administer naloxone, the more Hoosier lives will be saved.”
Frye and Zoeller applaud the actions being taken by the federal government in a proposal to expand funding for addiction treatment programs targeting prescription drug and heroin abuse. The federal proposal is calling for $1.1 billion in new funding over the next two years to address the opioid abuse epidemic.
For more information on the funding, visit http://www.in.gov/bitterpill/nalaxone-training-first-responders.html.
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Rep. Frye (R-Greensburg) represents Ohio and Switzerland counties, as well as portions of Ripley, Decatur, Jennings, Jefferson and Dearborn counties
