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New York cops will soon carry heroin-OD antidote

ALBANY, NY — New York’s attorney general says 39 police agencies across the state are equipping officers with heroin antidotes to help save overdose victims.

Eric Schneiderman says initial awards in the Community Overdose Prevention Program, funded by seizures in crime investigations, will reimburse departments in 30 counties buying more than 1,000 naloxone kits.

The Guilderland Police Department outside Albany is the first getting full reimbursement: $2,100 after buying kits for 35 officers.

Nearly 100 departments have applied.

Schneiderman calls the drug “stunningly effective” in stopping an overdose in what has become “a heroin epidemic.”

Authorities say 563 lives were saved in Suffolk County’s pilot program last year.

Kits have two syringes and two inhalers of naloxone — also marketed under the brand name Narcan — and instructions.