An effective overdose treatment has been discovered.

According to The Guardian, the U.S. government has found a way to let friends or loved ones treat someone they suspect has overdosed on heroin or powerful painkillers called opioids, while they wait for medical care.

The device is called Evzio, and it automatically injects that right dose of the drug naloxone, a long-used antidote for opioid overdoses.

Evzio was approved as attorney general Eric Holder addressed the heroin epidemic that has been spreading.

Holder stated on Thursday that a "balanced approach" involving treatment, education and enforcement is needed to confront the country's heroin crisis and avoid mistakes made during the widespread use of crack.

He said that the government has an opportunity to prevent the heroin problem from getting "even more out of control than it already is."

The FDA reportedly explained that Evzio's design makes it easy for anyone to use it.

Once Evzio is turned on, it provides verbal instructions so someone with no medical experience can easily use the device.

The FDA emphasized that the overdose treatment is not a substitute for immediate medical care.

Reuters reports that painkiller drug overdoes deaths have been steadily increasing as more than 16,000 people die each year from prescription overdose in the United States.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that while wider use of overdoes treatment is important, "the larger goal is to reduce the need for products like these by preventing opioid addiction and abuse."

On Thursday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that the state would equip every law enforcement officer in the state with naloxone to help fight a surge in heroin overdoses.

This will be funded with $5 million recovered from drug traffickers.