LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP) has launched a new project aimed at improving opioid analysis and reporting across the state.
It's all part of the ongoing effort to combat the continuing crisis nationwide.
The best way to describe it is an early-warning system that schools, college campuses and law enforcement agencies can use to detect suspected narcotics like fentanyl quickly.
It's called the Sentinel Project, and officials said it will help more accurately identify harmful drugs.
"I think it's so important to have timely data," ARORP Director Kirk Lane said. "[It] helps people get where they need to be."
Now, communities across the state have a new tool to help them get that data more efficiently.
It's called TruNarc, and it will help schools, college campuses, and law enforcement agencies easily analyze dangerous drugs at no cost.
The ARORP wrote a check for nearly a million dollars to buy 32 devices.
"Our mission is to distribute those opioid funds that came in for cities and counties, respectfully, out to organizations that will fill in the gap of solving the opioid epidemic in our state," Lane said.
Lane said in Arkansas alone, 429 people died as a result of the opioid epidemic in 2023, and 70% of those deaths were caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
"One of the gaps that we realized, and the reason that we brought this project forward, is understanding and knowing what your enemy is is half the battle," Lane said.
Instead of waiting months to discover a substance, TruNarc can identify it within just a few minutes.
"Using the technology to push that investigation forward makes communities safer," Lane said. "It makes law enforcement, or it makes people that have utilized these instruments safer and give family answers quickly, and that's what it's all about."
Sgt. Tonya Soule, with the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office, said her department has had the device for four years and uses it regularly.
Soule said this is a game changer for increasing safety for not only the public, but also for deputies who don't have to open the drug to find out what it is.
"You want to hold the substance directly up to it," Soule said. "Then, once you hit scan, it starts to analyze it, and it starts to scan."
Click here for more on how to apply for one of the devices.