Thousands of New York City police officers will soon carry a new weapon to help combat a recent spike in heroin overdoses. 

The New York State Attorney General's Office is helping to arm the NYPD with naloxone kits, an emergency antidote that can quickly reverse the effects of an overdose. 

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a press conference Tuesday that officials are doing everything they can to combat a statewide heroin epidemic, and that they can't just prosecute their way out of it. 

He added that the antidote is already credited with saving more than 500 lives in Suffolk County in the last year. 

The MTA said earlier this month that its officers were also being trained to carry the drug kits.