Tempe City Council adopted a resolution to continue funding for the second phase of the First Responder Opioid Project last month, furthering the reach of EMPACT La Frontera, a program in part worked on by an ASU researcher.
In 2019, the Tempe Police Department was granted funding for the project from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The following year, after receiving funding, the project began supplying Tempe police officers with Narcan and created a 24-hour crisis hotline.
Narcan is a naloxone delivery device that rapidly reduces opioid overdoses by attaching to opioid receptors and reversing the effects of the drug.
With the La Frontera EMPACT Suicide Prevention Center, the comprehensive service extends to helping people's lives after an overdose.