The Cape Breton Regional Police have ordered 250 naloxone spray kits in an effort to help prepare officers in case they have to deal with fentanyl exposure.
READ MORE: Fentanyl overdose deaths expected to rise in Nova Scotia, province says
Once it’s administered, naloxone temporarily blocks the effects opiates have on the body, and could potentially save someone from dying of an overdose.
Desiree Vassallo, spokesperson for the Cape Breton police, said to date there has been one overdose death linked to fentanyl in the region.
The naloxone kits are expected to arrive in the new year and will be given to all officers and jailers. Vassallo says officers are currently undergoing training to carry the kits.
WATCH: Naloxone kits, used to reverse opiate overdoses, hit streets of Halifax, Cape Breton
The Cape Breton Regional Police is not the first police force in the province to equip personal-use naloxone kits.
In October, the Nova Scotia RCMP announced that 25 per cent of their members were carrying the spray, in an effort to get ahead of the potential rise of the fentanyl overdoses.
WATCH: Nova Scotia RCMP given Naloxone kits amid spreading fentanyl crisis
The Halifax Regional Police have also started to distribute naloxone kits among their force.
Police currently have the injectable version of the drug, but HRP said they will be also looking at getting nasal inhalers.
READ MORE: Halifax police using naloxone to combat fentanyl, opioid exposure
On Sunday, a 24-year-old man was found unresponsive on Robert Drive in Dartmouth after ingesting fentanyl.
Emergency personal were able to use naloxone on the man at the scene. His condition is said to be improving.
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