The Marietta-based Davis Direction Foundation has donated 30 starter kits of NARCON (or officially Naloxone), the opioid-overdose reversal drug, to the Avondale Estates police department. Each kit includes a nasal inhaler that injects the drug, with three doses provided to each Avondale officer.
In return, during this week’s commission meeting The DeKalb County Chiefs Association donated $300 to the DDF on behalf of the Avondale police.
The DDF is a three-year old non-profit, whose Executive Director Missy Owen lost a 21-year-old son to a heroin overdose in 2014.
According to the DDF website there is one death every 12 minutes in the U.S. from opioid/heroin addiction making it the country’s leading cause of accidental death.
Avondale Estates Police Chief Lynn Thomas said that opioid overdose in the city is rare, only one during his 15 years on the force (the last 18 months as chief).
“I’m not saying we’ve got a drug problem in Avondale,” Thomas said. “But we can’t be naïve to think nothing won’t happen.”
The chief added that in a city as small as Avondale, the police are often first responders, ahead of fire and EMS.
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