County wants prison to have access to naloxone

Carbon County wants prison officials to have access to naloxone in the event of an overdose at the Nesquehoning facility.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners approved an agreement with Lehighton Ambulance Association to provide six doses of naloxone at the prison.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the prison, to his knowledge, has not needed naloxone so far, but added that this is a precaution because you hear stories of people overdosing in store parking lots and other locations. The kits would be for anyone, inmate or visitor, in the event an overdose occurs at the site.

“We wanted it there just in case,” he said.

The Lehighton Ambulance Association was named by the commissioners as the centralized coordinating entity for the distribution of naloxone kits for police, adult and juvenile probation and the sheriff’s department in 2017.

There is no cost for the doses the prison will receive as part of a state program that provides naloxone free of charge to fire responders.