Legislation to increase access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone is moving forward around the country, on the heels of Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent recommendations that first responders should carry the antidote with them.
The AMA last week sent a letter of support for federal legislation, the Stop Overdose Stat Act of 2013, which seeks to decrease drug overdose by expanding awareness and use of naloxone, a receptor antagonist that potentially can prevent opioid overdose deaths. The bill also aims to improve epidemiological surveillance of overdose occurrences and establish a coordinated federal plan of action.
The bill “addresses priority areas regarding prescription drug overdose prevention that the AMA supports, and creates a forum for major stakeholders and the AMA to work together to craft additional solutions and initiatives to reverse the rising trend in prescription drug abuse, diversion, overdose and death,” the AMA said in its support letter.
Also last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill into law allowing friends or family members of patients or addicts to administer naloxone without fear of prosecution. Now in Ohio, naloxone can be prescribed to a patient’s friend or a family member, and people administering the drug would be immune from prosecution as long as they call 911 immediately before or after giving the antidote. The Ohio bill also makes it easier for first responders to administer the drug.
The AMA has been urging adoption of laws such as the Stop Overdose Stat Act as part of a larger effort to address overdoses and deaths related to prescription painkillers, which have been rising. Ohio joins California, Colorado, New Jersey and Oklahoma in the forefront of states making it easier for health care professionals to prescribe, dispense and distribute naloxone. At least 17 states and the District of Columbia allow naloxone to be distributed to the public.
The Department of Justice is taking notice of the increasing prevalence of opioid deaths as well. In a video message posted on the department’s website, Holder called the upsurge in deaths related to heroin and prescription painkillers an “urgent and growing public health crisis.”
“Addiction to heroin and other opiates—including certain prescription painkillers—is impacting the lives of Americans in every state, in every region, and from every background and walk of life—and all too often, with deadly results,” Holder said.
More than 20 states are considering naloxone-related legislation so far this year. In addition to Ohio, the AMA recently sent letters of support for naloxone bills in Wisconsin, Maine and Tennessee.
Visit the AMA’s Combating prescription drug abuse and diversion Web page to learn more about how the AMA is collaborating with state medical associations to pass opioid legislation and working with federal agencies and lawmakers to implement policies that can help stop drug abuse and overdose while protecting access to care for patients who need it.
