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SARASOTA (FOX 13) - A Sarasota County sheriff's deputy has saved the life of two people overdosing on heroin in the last four months using new naloxone auto-injectors.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office proudly announced its deputies would be the first in the state to use the medicine in October, 2015.
Since then, Deputy Jimmy Adams has been faced with using it not once, but twice.
Naloxone auto-injectors are small devices to help reverse a potentially deadly heroin overdose.
Deputy Adams was faced with using one first in December. Then again Friday, when he helped save a patient from an overdose using the auto injector.
"It really is another tool we can use to save lives," said Sgt. Donny Kennard.
Meanwhile, heroin use is on the rise. President Obama called it an epidemic in 2015. It's an epidemic fueled in part by the crackdown on prescription drugs.
But in Sarasota County, overdoses have trended downward since late June.
"It's still a problem. We're glad to see some success, but we're a long way from an end," Sgt. Kennard said.
He continued to say the problem will take a lot more than naloxone auto-injectors to combat the problem of heroine, but SCSO deputies are glad to be able to give victims a second chance.
"Zero is the only number we're comfortable with. It's an optimistic goal, but that's what we're working for," said Sgt. Kennard.