A couple of years ago, the village of Cassopolis had a choice to make.

The drug Naloxone, more commonly known as Narcan, came onto the scene and was being used by several police departments in the field as an antidote to the effects of opioid drugs, and the village council had to decide whether or not to allow the Cassopolis Police Department to carry the drug.

At the time, village leadership felt they did not have all the information they needed, and adopted a “wait and see” approach to see how they would deal with the issue at a later date.

After that, the issue remained silent.

That is until recently, when Narcan was brought up in a recent village meeting. Now, Cassopolis Police Chief Brian La Valle is pushing to allow the drug to be implemented in the police department.

Narcan is a prescription drug that can block or reduce the symptoms of opioid overdoses. Popular opioid drugs include heroin and prescription pain pills like morphine, codeine, oxycodone, methadone, Vicodin and fentanyl.

Provided to participating municipalities free of charge by Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health, many police departments keep the drug on hand to treat opioid overdoses in the field.

Due to action by Gov. Rick Snyder in May, Naloxone is also available statewide to individuals without a personal prescription.

The Cassopolis Police Department is currently the only police department in Cass County not to carry the potentially lifesaving drug. The Dowagiac Police Department, the Edwardsburg Police Department, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police and the Silver Creek Police Department all carry Narcan.

La Valle is strongly in favor of bringing Narcan to the Cassopolis Police Department, as he is trained in how to administer the drug and knows of many cases in which the drug has saved lives.

“As it’s no cost, I think it’s a win-win for the community [to provide Narcan]. All of the other communities in Cass have it and are in favor of us having that at our disposal,” he said. “It’s a public safety issue, which is why I think it’s important to get this implemented at the Cassopolis Police Department.”

However, not everyone is as ready to push the button on Narcan as La Valle is. Some members of the community have expressed concerns over the fact that the drug is funded by Southwest Michigan Behavioral Health, and that one day they may no longer provide the drug to police departments free of cost.

“There is always a possibility that when a group is providing a program for free, that those funds will run out,” said Village Manager Emilie Sarratore.

Village Council President David Johnson also expressed some reservations surrounding continuing funding of Narcan, but said that so long as the drug is not doing harm, he would like to see it adopted by village.

“I don’t want the concern of what it could cost in the future stop us from saving a life today,” Johnson said. “But I don’t want us to get locked into something that could cost us a lot of money and we never use it. It’s a delicate balance.”

La Valle acknowledged that cost could one day become an issue, but believes that should that day come, the police department could apply for grants or ask for donations to help cover the cost. Worst case scenario, the department would stop providing the drug if it became too costly.

“If it’s available now for free, I’d like to utilize that now as much as I can,” La Valle said. “I can’t image that the reversal drug becomes too expensive.”

Other community members have also expressed concern that, hypothetically, should Cassopolis police officers treat someone with Narcan and that person were to have a negative reaction, that it could open up the department to liability.

This concern is unfounded due to a 2015 Michigan statute that protects police departments from civil and criminal liability in cases where any officer administers the drug in good faith, so long as doing so cannot be proven to be “gross negligence.”

While these concerns may potentially become an issue down the road, they are not shared by the communities that already have Narcan made available to the police.

Director of Public Safety at the Dowagiac Police Department Steven Grinnewald believes Narcan is life saving and necessary.

In the more than a year that the Dowagiac Police Department has had access to Narcan kits, the department has used the drug a handful of times. Twice, the drug was confirmed to save the life of the person it was used on. The other times the police department administered Narcan, it turned out that the patient was not suffering from an opioid overdose, so the drug had no effect on them.

“[Narcan] saves lives. Every person we deal with, regardless of the circumstances that got them into that situation, is someone’s loved one. Someone cares about them,” Grinnewald said. “As first responders, we need to have every tool possible to save those lives. By not carrying it, it goes against everything we stand for. We stand for saving lives and keeping people safe. Why would we not carry it?”

It is in part the experiences and knowledge of those who have used the drug that has convinced La Valle that Narcan is something the Cassopolis Police Department should carry.

“I’m just trying to make sure that any tool that can make the community safer is available to us,” La Valle said. “Especially when it is at no or low cost to us.”

Though the agenda has not yet been set, officials plan to discuss the issue of Narcan at the village’s Aug. 14 meeting.

“We’re hopeful that we will come to a solution,” La Valle said.