Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (D-MD) has introduced a federal overdose prevention bill with five co-sponsors. The Drug Overdose Reduction Act (H.R. 2855) would create a federal grant program to provide cities, states, tribal governments and community-based groups with funding to prevent and reduce overdose deaths; task the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with responsibility for reducing overdose deaths; commission studies on the efficacy of various strategies to reduce overdose deaths; and create a nationwide surveillance system for monitoring overdose trends.
The
next step is getting as many members of Congress as possible to
cosponsor the bill. Please take 2 minutes to
send a letter to your Member of Congress by clicking the title link.
California: 2010 is a Great Year for Harm Reduction Legislation!
Please take action on the important 4 bills currently working their way through the legislature: AB 2145 (Ammiano), to Expand Naloxone Prescription Programs; AB 1858 (Blumenfield) Statewide Syringe Exchange Authorization; SB 1029 (Yee), Pharmacy Syringe Sales; and AB 2460 (Ammiano), 911 Amnesty. Just click on each title to send a free letter or fax directly to your representatives.
AB
2145 will protect doctors and other licensed health professionals who
prescribe and distribute naloxone (an opioid antagonist) to those who
need it. This proposed legislation would make it easier for health care
professionals to participate in comprehensive drug overdose prevention
programs that prescribe opioid antagonists, thereby removing a large
obstacle to the creation and expansion of such programs in California.
This
proposed legislation will also make it easier to get naloxone into the
hands of the people who are the most likely to witness an opioid
overdose, by permitting individuals to
administer naloxone in an emergency if they have received training
specified from providers. It would protect these individuals from civil
or criminal prosecution for practicing medicine without a license, thereby increasing the likelihood that people overdosing on opioids will receive naloxone promptly.
Assembly Bill 1858 authored
by Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys) would allow California
Department of Public Health to authorize syringe exchange services in
locations where the conditions exist for the rapid spread of viral hepatitis,
HIV or other potentially deadly or disabling diseases. HRC sees this bill as a top priority in California - please take action!
Assembly Bill 2460 authored by Assemblymember Tom
Ammiano (D- San Francisco) would encourage bystanders to call 911 when
witnessing an overdose event by offering limited protection from arrest for
simple possession or paraphernalia charges for people who are present when
911 responders arrive.
SB 1029 Pharmacy sales
Senate Bill 1029 authored by State Senator
Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) would allow pharmacists statewide the discretion
to sell up to 30 syringes to an adult without a prescription. Currently 14
counties and 4 cities participate in a pilot program that allows adults to
purchase and possess ten or fewer syringes from a pharmacy. The statutes that
authorized this pilot will expire the last day of this year, 2010. Senator
Yee's bill will take the policy statewide, reducing cost and procedural
barriers to implementation.
