Aug 21, 2014 05:43 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Wednesday announced funding to equip campus police at 12 State University of New York (SUNY) schools with the antidote to heroin.

Schneiderman's office will provide funding to equip 258 campus police officers with naloxone -- a heroin antidote that can instantly reverse the effects of an opioid or heroin overdose -- as part of the Attorney General's Community Overdose Prevention (COP) Program. The SUNY campuses that applied and will be receiving funding are: Purchase, Potsdam, Buffalo, Cortland, Oswego, Albany, Geneseo, Adirondack, Canton, Utica/Rome, Farmingdale, and New Paltz.

Although heroin use on campuses nationwide isn't as prominent as the use of other drugs and alcohol, "a growing number of overdoses of students has alarmed campus health officials."

In May, a SUNY Oswego student died on campus from a heroin overdose and two suffered near-fatal overdoses off campus. In April, an Oswego student died in his home off campus from a heroin overdose. Last year, a graduate student died from a heroin overdose on campus at Binghamton.

"The COP Program is an essential part of our effort to combat the epidemic of heroin overdoses plaguing communities here in New York State and across the country," Schneiderman said in a statement. "In just the past year, we've seen multiple students overdose on SUNY campuses -- a tragic reminder that the crisis we've seen in the news is not so far from our students' dorm rooms. By providing SUNY campus officers with naloxone, we are making this stunningly effective overdose antidote available to institutions that educate and care for our students."

The COP program will provide SUNY Police with almost $27,000 to purchase 258 naloxone kits for the SUNY campuses. That means nearly half of SUNY's sworn officers will have access to naloxone.

"The Community Overdose Prevention program is a powerful weapon in battling heroin and prescription pain pill abuse and the tragic deaths that result," Purchase College President Thomas Schwarz said in a statement. "With the heroin antidote, first responders have been able to prevent thousands of deaths each year around the country-saving individuals, families, and communities from devastation. Providing that proven life-saver to our police will have a profound impact throughout the state of New York, as well as in our local communities."

Since the COP Program was launched in April, more than 200 law-enforcement agencies have applied to the COP Program. Several dozen more are completing the necessary steps to become eligible. The COP Program has now approved the distribution of nearly 28,000 kits to 164 police departments across the state.

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