Naloxone

January 30, 2025 | Controlled Substances, First Responders, Legal & Legislative Research, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Opioids, Overdose Reversal Agent, Public Health, Public Safety, Substance Misuse

In an effort to save lives, states have implemented laws to make it easier for first responders and the general public to obtain overdose reversal agents, such as naloxone. Additionally, to encourage people to assist an individual who is or may be suffering an overdose, the majority of states also enacted laws which protect laypeople who administer overdose reversal agents, in good faith, in an emergency from civil and/or criminal liability. The Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association (LAPPA) undertook an extensive research project to determine the current status of overdose reversal agent access laws throughout the United States, including the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories. As of January 2025, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of an overdose reversal agent access law....

October 17, 2024 | First Responders, Harm Reduction, Model Laws, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

The key elements of the Model Overdose Reversal Agents Act are to: (1) remove all existing restrictions about who can receive, possess, store, transfer without cost, or administer an ORA such that any “person or entity” is eligible; (2) require specified individuals and entities to offer ORAs to individuals at increased risk of overdose; (3) require emergency access to ORAs at specified locations for use by any individual; (4) provide guidelines for ORA sales, in particular sales of non-prescription ORAs; (6) grant broad immunity to people or entities for prescribing, dispensing, giving, donating, transferring without charge, selling, or administering ORAs in the absence of gross negligence, malice, or criminal intent; (7) identify the required content for educational information about ORAs and specify when that information must be disseminated; (8) require Medicaid and other health insurance coverage for ORAs, including non-prescription ORAs, and prohibit discriminatory life and health insurance practices; and (9) create a bulk overdose reversal agent purchasing fund to assist persons and entities to fulfill requirements under the Act....

October 2, 2024 | Harm Reduction, Innovative Initiatives, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioid Antagonists, Recovery, Substance Misuse

In 2018, the city of Chicago, IL gained an ally in the fight against fatal overdoses and substance use disorder in the non-profit organization, To Walk in My Shoes. Co-founded by Marnell Brown, a person in long term recovery, To Walk in My Shoes provides resources and support for those in need in the community. In addition to providing individuals with job skills training, including interview practice and how to write a resume, money management skills, and conflict resolution skills, To Walk in My Shoes also works to raise awareness about and provide testing for HIV/AIDS....

April 11, 2024 | Controlled Substances, Criminal Justice, Harm Reduction, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Public Safety, Recovery, Reports & Studies, Substance Misuse, Treatments

The Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law was established in 2018 through a generous grant from Arnold Ventures. Housed at Georgetown Law, the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative works at the intersection of public health and the law to advance a public health approach to substance use disorder and the overdose epidemic through legal and policy strategies that promote evidence-based treatment, harm reduction, and recovery. This reports highlights O'Neill's accomplishments over the last five years....

February 22, 2023 | Controlled Substances, Harm Reduction, Innovative Initiatives, Naloxone, Opioid Antagonists, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Treatments

In the beginning of 2022, the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Network, and Marshall University, a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, launched an overdose prevention initiative on every public and private college campus in West Virginia. The program, entitled, “Be The One” focuses on opioid overdose prevention from a bystander’s perspective, encouraging students, staff, and faculty to “be the one” to save a life....

February 8, 2022 | Controlled Substances, Criminal Justice, Harm Reduction, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), Naloxone, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Recovery, Substance Misuse, Toolkits, Treatments

The 2022 AMA-Manatt Toolkit builds on a previously published roadmap by providing actionable resources that states can use to take specific actions in six policy areas: (1) Increase access to evidence-based treatments to help patients with a substance use disorder (SUD); (2) Ensure access to addiction medicine, psychiatry, and other trained physicians; (3) Enforce mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) parity laws; (4) Improve access to multidisciplinary, multimodal care for patients with pain; (5) Expand harm reduction efforts to reduce death and disease; and (6) Improve monitoring and evaluation....

April 19, 2021 | Controlled Substances, First Responders, Naloxone, Opioids, Prescription Drugs, Public Health, Public Safety, Reports & Studies

In recent years, some states have enacted Good Samaritan and Naloxone Access laws to help reduce overdose deaths and respond to opioid overdoses.The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 included a provision for GAO to review these laws. This report addresses the following: (1) the efforts ONDCP has taken to collect and disseminate information on Good Samaritan and Naloxone Access laws, (2) the extent to which states, territories, and D.C. have these laws and the characteristics of them, and (3) what research indicates concerning the effects of Good Samaritan laws.To answer these questions, GAO collected and reviewed ONDCP documents and interviewed agency officials. GAO also reviewed and analyzed selected characteristics of jurisdictions' Good Samaritan and Naloxone Access laws. Further, GAO conducted a literature review of empirical studies published from 2010 through May 2020 that examined the effects of Good Samaritan laws....