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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 2, 2022 09:27 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Amanda M. Cappelletti |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Accessing Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation that would update the Controlled Substance, Drug, and Cosmetic Device Act to further provide for access to opioid overdose reversal medications in the state. Overdose deaths in the U.S. have reached record-high levels, surpassing 75,000 in 2021. This is an uptick of 20,000 deaths from the prior year. Within the Commonwealth, overdose fatalities ranked fifth highest in the nation from 2020 to 2021, totaling 5,000 people. Among those Pennsylvanians who died as a result of an overdose, 85% percent were confirmed as opioid-involved deaths—a 16% increase since 2019. As a result of this dramatic rise in overdose deaths and the growing prevalence of drugs mixed with synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, the White House has issued guidance to encourage uniform access to opioid antagonists, such as naloxone, across all states. Under Pennsylvania statute, authorized persons who obtain naloxone, and those who prescribe, dispense or administer it to individuals experiencing opioid-related overdoses, are not subject to criminal prosecution, professional sanctions or civil liability. Such protections enabled the reversal of 25,000 overdoses in the state from 2014 through 2019 alone. Moving forward, as new opioid overdose reversal medications become available, it is important to ensure these life-saving drugs can be accessed equally alongside naloxone without repercussion. My legislation would allow all opioid antagonists approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be prescribed, dispensed, administered and obtained under existing immunity protections. |