AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 44) – Governor Greg Abbott has announced a second allotment of 60,000 units of Naloxone (NARCAN) will be distributed to all Texas police departments as part of the statewide “One Pill Kills” campaign.
This is according to the Office of the Governor, saying that law enforcement personnel – including municipal police, Independent School District police and police departments at higher education institutions – will be eligible to receive a portion of this allotment based on county population and size.
As part of Gov. Abbott’s plan to expand access to NARCAN, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) will begin the next phase of distribution at law enforcement partners request for their jurisdiction’s allotment. In April, as part of the Governors “One Pill Kills” initiative and in accordance with a legal settlement between opioid manufacturers and the State of Texas, TDEM began circulating the first 20,000 units of the states allotment to each of the 254 county sheriffs offices in Texas.
The Governor’s Office says that TDEM is notifying eligible law enforcement partners across the state of the upcoming distribution, and each may request their jurisdiction’s allotment through TDEM’s State of Texas Assistance Request process.
Gov. Abbott has taken the following actions to address the growing fentanyl crisis:
– Launching the “One Pill Kills” statewide public awareness campaign
– Hosting a One Pill Kills Summit to raise awareness, educate the public on the dangers of fentanyl, and discuss solutions to save more lives
– Unveiling the Texas fentanyl data dashboard
– Signing a law enhancing penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl
– Designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations
– Announcing fighting the fentanyl crisis as an emergency item for the 88th Regular Legislative Session
– Signing four new laws to combat the fentanyl crisis, including reclassifying fentanyl deaths as poisonings and prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder