RALEIGH -- Special agents with the State Bureau of Investigation and the Alcohol Law Enforcement received training this week in how to administer Naloxone. The two agencies are the first statewide law enforcement agencies in North Carolina to train and carry Naloxone, which is a drug that revives opiate overdose victims when they stop breathing.

Donnie Varnell, SBI’s special agent in charge of the Diversion and Environmental Crimes Unit, describes the training involved, "What steps to take on how to treat the patient and give them the needed medical attention there on the scene. How to assess the situation. And then, of course, how to determine how deep into the overdose they are."

North Carolina loses an estimated 1,100 people annually to prescription drug overdose.