Citation

Davis C, Webb D, Burris S. J. Law Med. Ethics 2013; 41(Suppl 1): 33-36.

Affiliation

Staff attorney with the Network for Public Health Law - Southeastern Region at the National Health Law Program. Fellow at the Center for Health Policy and Practice, Temple University Beasley School of Law. Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jlme.12035

PMID

23590737

Abstract

Opioid overdose is the leading cause of accidental injury death in the United States, taking the lives of over 16,000 Americans every year. Many of those deaths are preventable through the timely provision of naloxone, a drug that reliably and effectively reverses opioid overdose. However, that drug is often not available where and when it is needed, due in large part to laws that pre-date the overdose epidemic. Preliminary evidence suggests that amending those laws to encourage the prescription and use of naloxone will reduce opioid overdose deaths, and a number of states have done so in the past several years. Since legal amendments designed to facilitate naloxone access have no documented negative effects, can be implemented at little or no cost, and have the potential to save both lives and resources, states that have not passed them may benefit from doing so.

Language: en