Officers in the New York Police Department (NYPD) will soon begin carrying antidotes capable of reversing the effects of heroin and opioid overdoses, as part of its ongoing effort to combat what US Attorney General Eric Holder has described as an urgent and growing public health crisis. As the Associated Press reports, New York states Attorney General office is outfitting the citys police force with 19,500 kits that contain two syringes and two inhalers of naloxone: a drug capable of countering the dangerously slow breathing that often occurs during opiate overdoses. The NYPD will receive $1.17 million from the state to fund the program, though its not clear when officers will begin carrying the antidotes. By providing NYPD police officers with naloxone, we are making this stunningly effective overdose antidote available in every corner of the five boroughs, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement Tuesday. According to Schneiderman, the drug was used to save 563 lives in New Yorks Suffolk County last year.