If there was any lingering doubt about the benefit of equipping state troopers with Narcan, it should have disappeared last Wednesday night.

Only a few days after front-line state police officers began carrying the opiate overdose reversal drug, Trooper Steven Gardner was the first trooper to administer it and save a life. Trooper Gardner successfully revived a 40-year-old Griswold man, who is expected to fully recover.

Bravo to Trooper Gardner. Moreover, bravo to the state officials who worked together to ensure this life-saving drug was more widely disseminated among emergency first responders. More than 1,100 state troopers in October were trained in the administration of Narcan.

In his congratulatory message to Trooper Gardner, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said, "Training and equipping our troopers, police officers, firefighters and other first responders with Narcan is the next common-sense step in our efforts to reduce overdoses resulting from heroin and prescription drug overdoses."

With an average of one person dying every day from an opioid overdose in Connecticut, we couldn't agree more with this statement. Training and equipping all emergency first responders with Narcan not only is common sense, but it is vital in halting the rising number of accidental opioid overdose deaths and granting those suffering from addiction another chance at recovery.

Unfortunately, however, the odds that an overdose victim will be saved now depend on where he or she lives and who may be the first to respond to an emergency call. Plenty of police, fire and ambulance units still have not trained their members to use Narcan, nor equipped responders with the overdose reversal drug.

As we've said before, the state also needs to do more. In Rhode Island a person can walk into a pharmacy and purchase a Narcan kit over the counter. In Connecticut, those struggling with addiction, or their family members or friends, can obtain Narcan only via a physician's prescription. If Connecticut moves to the Rhode Island model, more drug addicts will be saved and given the chance to take the road of recovery.

Physicians, drug counselors and officials at the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services are among the many calling for Connecticut to make Narcan more readily available.

We join that chorus.