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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 29, 2024 03:16 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Devlin J. Robinson |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Opioid Overdose Awareness and Enhancing Recovery Support Services |
| In 2020, 2021 and 2022 over 5,000 Pennsylvanians died each year from opioid overdoses. The opioid epidemic continues to ravage families and our communities. This includes a family in my district who recently shared their story of losing their 21-year-old daughter to fentanyl poisoning. In recent years, the Senate has passed a number of bills to combat the opioid crisis including increasing access to licensed addiction treatment programs, legalizing fentanyl test strips, enacting harsher penalties for drug dealers who sell products that lead to the poisoning death of a victim, aligning state drug scheduling with federal practices, tracking suspected overdoses treated by EMS providers in a statewide tracking system, requiring hospitals to test for fentanyl and xylazine when treating a person receiving a standard drug screening in an emergency room, informing employees about the risk associated with opioids, and a Recovery to Work program to connect individuals in recovery with jobs. In the near future, I will expand upon these valuable initiatives by introducing legislation to require the Department of Health, in consultation with the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, to develop posters and brochures to be displayed and made available in public places that include information about the signs of an opioid overdose, where to obtain an opioid antagonist, such as naloxone, and what to do in the event of an opioid-related overdose. The bill will also establish a grant program to further develop, expand and improve recovery support services provided in the Commonwealth. Please join me in supporting this important legislation to further address the opioid epidemic. |