California Advocates for the Use of Naloxone

[neversickanymore]

California Advocates for the Use of Naloxone

Naloxone is also known by its brand name Narcan, and it is an opiate agonist which prevents drugs like OxyContin and heroin from binding to the opioid receptors in the brain.

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 14, 2014 - WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law Assembly Bill 635, which was authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. The bill will expand the use of the drug naloxone, which is administered to people who are suffering from an opiate overdose to restore breathing.

The new law allows friends and families of more drug users in the state to be able to reverse the effects of a heroin or opiate overdose at home by injecting the life-saving drug. The bill allows anyone to ask a doctor for a prescription for the drug, which can drastically reduce the number of overdose deaths from opiates.

Naloxone is also known by its brand name Narcan, and it is an opiate agonist which prevents drugs like OxyContin and heroin from binding to the opioid receptors in the brain. By doing so, it can reverse the effects of taking too much of an opiate drug and prevent death from an overdose. Naloxone can be directly injected into the person who is overdosing or it can be delivered via a nasal spray formula.

The drug is non-addictive, non-toxic, cheap and easy to administer through the nose via a spray or in the vein as an injection. The Food and Drug Administration first approved it back in 1971 and it is stocked in countless emergency rooms, post-surgery recovery rooms and in ambulances all across the country. However, it is important to remember, not many opiate users have the luck of making it to the hospital in time to counteract the effects of a drug overdose.

For that reason, in 2008, the state of California implemented a pilot program in seven different counties. The program allowed drug abusers, their family and friends, health care professionals and addiction specialists to administer Naloxone in cases of emergency and all parties are protected against lawsuits, if anything should go wrong.

The bill signed into law by Governor Brown extends the pilot program all across the state of California. Beginning January 1st, 2014, drug users, their friends and family can request a prescription for Narcan from a doctor or a drug treatment program.

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is spreading the word around that a person who knows someone who is abusing opiates should have this medication on hand in case of emergency. It has been used by EMT’s, paramedics and first responders in emergency rooms for many years and research indicated more than 10,000 lives have been saved by the drug.

There are more than 52 programs in at least 17 different states that distribute Naloxone to those at risk of an overdose and to laypeople who might be first responders in emergency overdose instances. The program is expected to train recipients in emergency overdose protocols, recognition and response such as calling 911, rescue breathing and administering Naloxone.

Drug overdoses kill more people each year than car accidents or gunshot wounds. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control reported 38,329 people died from drug overdose and the most common drug which kills is opiates like heroin and OxyContin.

http://www.prlog.org/12282833-california-advocates-for-the-use-of-naloxone.html

 

[neversickanymore]

How LePage is killing us with his policies
February 14, 2014

magine the horrifying prospect of finding a family member or friend overdosed on heroin. The person’s eyes are rolled back, lips a deep blue color, barely breathing. You frantically dial 911, but watch helplessly as the person’s condition worsens. You hold your loved one in your arms. Screaming, you feel their heartbeat stop just minutes before the rescue workers show up and declare the person deceased.

Now, imagine that you had been able to save the person on your own. In this scenario you find the person overdosing, but instead of helplessly waiting on the ambulance you grab a syringe of Narcan (also known by it’s generic name, naloxone) and administer the shot, which is quite similar to an Epipen used by people with bee allergies. You still call the ambulance, but as you wait for the rescue workers your loved one returns from the brink of death instead of crossing over it.

As the Narcan quickly works to reverse the effects of the overdose, the recovery process will include abnormal skin sensations, anxiety, diarrhea, fever, goose bumps, nausea, muscle pain, internal stomach pain, runny nose, , sneezing, sweating, tremors, vomiting, and terrifying hallucinations.

In each scenario you would walk away shaken and traumatized, but your loved one walks away only if he or she gets the Narcan.

Figures for statewide overdose deaths caused by opiates like heroin, methadone, or OxyContin, are staggering. In 2011 the number was 156 and it rose higher to 163 in 2012. Numbers for 2013 are not yet available but the state medical examiner expects them to continue the upward trend. So we’re looking at about 1 death every other day statewide.

You’re probably asking yourself, “if it’s as simple as a Narcan injection to reverse an opiate overdose, why are so many people still dying from them in Maine?”

Because Governor LePage won’t allow the legislation that would broaden the accessibility of Narcan to pass, that’s why.

Last legislative session Rep. Ann Dorney, D-Norridgewock, who is a doctor, submitted a bill which would have allowed people like police officers and family members of addicts to obtain Narcan through a physician. The bill also included a provision of impunity for anyone who reported an overdose to 911, a clause which verifiable facts prove would help to save countless lives as well.

Not surprisingly, Dorney’s bill passed. Sickeningly, LePage pulled out his veto stamp, ending any chance of the second scenario mentioned (the one where your loved one lives) from happening.

Lepage, who thinks that reducing drug abuse is as simple as “keeping drugs away from users” explained his reasoning for vetoing the life saving measure, “This bill would make it easier for those with substance abuse problems to push themselves to the edge, or beyond. It provides a false sense of security that abusers are somehow safe from overdose if they have a prescription nearby.”

So either the Governor is ignorant enough to think that opiate users overdose for the thrill of it, or he’s crazy enough to think that things like diarrhea, vomiting, and hallucinations sound like a good time.

Simply because the remedy is available does not mean that users will aim for an overdose. That’s like a person with bee allergies stomping on a live hive just because they have an Epipen handy.

In the past few years Mainers have become accustomed to the man in the Blaine House mis-characterizing the poor and marginalized. I get as offended and upset as any Mainer out there when he pulls his embarrassing stunts, but issues like this really stand out as especially heartless and cruel because it’s so obvious that his delusional stubbornness is literally causing people to die.

Let me reiterate for clarity- Governor LePage is literally killing people with his policies.

Thankfully the push to expand access to Narcan didn’t end with the Governor’s veto of Dorney’s bill. Rep. Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, is now sponsoring a similar bill that would allow police officers, volunteer firefighters, drug users and members of their family to have a syringe of the life saving medication available in the case of an overdose.

This past Tuesday night LePage gave his State of the State address in predictable fashion. He spent a good chunk of the speech harping on drug users and dealers, but never mentioned drug treatment. He preached an aggressive, backwards strategy, “We must hunt down dealers and get them off the streets. We must protect our citizens from drug related crimes and violence.”

If the Governor truly cares about “protecting our citizens”, he will change his attitude towards Narcan and endorse Gideon’s second-effort bill. Then he’ll apologize to all of the families of the people who have overdosed on his watch because his ignorant, inept leadership contributed to their deaths in more ways than one.

Writer’s note: On November 1, 1997 a cousin of mine, named Anthony “Tony” Terroni, died of a heroin overdose at the age of 22 in Portland. He lived a difficult life filled with personal struggle, and had only used for seven months before passing. I wonder what may have been had there been a syringe of Narcan available the night he overdosed, and can’t imagine why anyone would stand if the way of making the life saving drug available to people. Please take the time to learn my cousin’s story at www.rememberingtonyt.com, which is a website created by Tony’s mother and siblings (my aunt and cousins). It’s a moving tribute to a beautiful, yet troubled soul and it offers an inside look into the depression and mental illness that so often drives anguished people to seek an escape through drugs. Thank you.

NSFW:

Email the Governor's Office

Contact
Office of the Governor
#1 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0001
Phone
207-287-3531
TTY: Maine relay 711 (for Deaf and hard of hearing)
Fax
207-287-1034

 

[Cautious_Optimist]

I imagine having to ask a Dr. for a prescription is gonna be a hindrance to its use...

They should also make this available via needle exchange and methadone programs too (if they don't already)...

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

While i agree with the poster above this is still progress.
no addict should have to die when there is a drug that can counteract overdose.
Id like to see it available with out prescription and availiblr everywhere in the us. These are human lives we are talking about the government needs to quit this sensless drugs are illegal shit and allow us the help we deserve.