AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott has announced that a second allotment of 60,000 units of Naloxone (NARCAN) will be distributed to all Texas police departments. All law enforcement personnel – including municipal police, school district police and police at higher education institutions – will be eligible to receive a portion of the allotment, based on county population and size.
The second allotment of NARCAN is part of the statewide "One Pill Kills" campaign.
"Fentanyl remains the single deadliest drug threat Texas and our nation have ever seen, with five Texans losing their lives every day," Abbott said in a statement. "In April, we launched this program to distribute NARCAN to every county in Texas to combat this crisis. With this next allotment of NARCAN, Texas can help ensure that every Texas community – including our schools –has this live-saving medication to save innocent lives from the devastation of fentanyl poisonings."
Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM), echoed Abbott's sentiments.
"As we continue this important mission to combat the deadly effects of harmful drugs, TDEM is determined to distribute this life-saving medication," Kidd said. "TDEM is committed to continuing our support of Texas communities working to push back against the devastating impacts of the fentanyl crisis."
Back in April, TDEM began circulating the first 20,000 units of the state's allotment to each of the 254 county sheriff's offices in Texas. Now TDEM is notifying eligible law enforcement partners of the upcoming distribution, and each may request their jurisdiction's allotment through TDEM's State of Texas Assistance Request process.
Abbott's office noted that the governor has taken several actions to address fentanyl overdoses in Texas, including unveiling the state's fentanyl data dashboard, signing a law enhancing penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl and signing four new laws targeting fentanyl, including reclassifying fentanyl deaths as poisonings and prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder.