CHICAGO — Physicians and medical students acted today to strengthen existing AMA policy promoting increased access to naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing drug. The added policy, adopted today at the AMA Annual Meeting, supports implementation of naloxone rescue stations in public areas where the life-saving drug can be stored and accessed.

Current AMA policy already urges that all forms of naloxone should be readily available to prevent opioid overdose fatalities, and calls for manufacturers or drug sponsors to pursue over-the-counter approval of naloxone with the Food and Drug Administration. The widespread availability of naloxone in public locations can only be successfully accomplished when this happens.

“Physicians and public health advocates all recognize that naloxone is a vital tool in our fight against opioid overdose deaths,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D, M.A. “Greater access to naloxone is a national priority and the AMA will support widespread implementation of naloxone rescue stations where this opioid overdose treatment can be easily accessed to prevent a fatality.”

Physicians also adopted new policy supporting collaboration between the AMA, the American Heart Association and other interested parties to include naloxone use in training available through the Basic Life Support Certification Program.

In other related action, physicians adopted new policy calling for the AMA to disseminate educational materials aimed at dispelling the myths and fear caused by reports of bystander overdose from dermal contact or inhaled exposure with fentanyl or other synthetic derivatives. Fentanyl is very poorly absorbed through the skin, a fact that is often misrepresented, and the resulting fear has increased first-responder reluctance to intervene in a timely manner when an opioid overdose is suspected.

The American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology (AACT) issued a position paper and guidelines on the topic in 2017. ACMT and AACT note that inhalation and dermal exposure risk for fentanyl and other synthetic analogues is extremely low in the absence of mucous membrane exposure, incidental dermal absorption is unlikely to cause opioid toxicity, and nitrile gloves provide sufficient dermal protection for routine handling of the drug.

Editor’s note: The AMA Opioid Task Force is chaired by AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. The AMA convened more than 25 national, state, specialty and other health care associations in 2014 to form the AMA Opioid Task Force to coordinate efforts within organized medicine to help end the nation’s opioid epidemic. Additional information on the AMA Opioid Task Force is available here. Real-time updates on the AMA’s work on opioids is accessible here.