The Obama Administration on Tuesday called for making a drug highly effective at reviving people who have overdosed on heroin more widely available to emergency-care-providers and other first responses, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Naloxone, "a blocking agent" that helps to reverse the effects of heroin and restore breathing, has been used by law enforcement and first responders in some cities and municipalities, but US drug officials said its use should be expanded, Reuters reported.

"Because police are often the first on the scene of an overdose, the Obama administration strongly encourages local law enforcement agencies to train and equip their personnel with this lifesaving drug," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told Reuters.

There has been a troubling increase in deaths from heroin.

Kerlikowske told reporters that relying on law enforcement alone wouldn't solve the problem and that the Obama administration was focused on treating addiction and preventing overdoses, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"We are not going to arrest our way out of this drug problem," he said.

The focus on the growing number of heroin doses and the push for more life-saving treatment comes after the death of Oscar-winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman on Feb. 2.

In recent years, heroin use has jumped by 80 percent in recent years, drug control officials said. An estimated 669,000 Americans have said that they had used the drug in 2012, up from 773,000 in 2007, Reuters reported.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that increased access to the antidote. People are also pushing to allow doctors to prescribe the substance "not only to individuals with addictions but to their relatives as well," The Los Angeles Times reported.

"Co-prescribing to both the person who is going through the disease of addiction and to their relatives and significant others can be very helpful," Kerlikowske said.