Drafter
Clerk 03/18/2015
Title
A RESOLUTION calling on the Washington state Legislature to pass Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1671 to expand access to opioid antagonists such as naloxone for opioid overdose.
Body
WHEREAS, deaths from opioid overdose in Washington state have nearly doubled since 2012, and
WHEREAS, four hundred sixty-seven King County residents died of opioid overdose between 2009 and 2011, with the majority coming from prescription medications, and
WHEREAS, opioid antagonists like naloxone have been shown to be an effective tool in reversing opioid overdose, and reducing opioid-related death, and
WHEREAS, naloxone is a cost-effective medication that non-medical people can easily administer through a nasal spray or a shot to the upper arm or leg, and
WHEREAS, community-based naloxone administration is proven to save lives, and from 1996 to 2010, lay people across the country reversed over ten thousand overdoses, and
WHEREAS, a 2013 survey at Public Health needle exchange locations showed that one in five respondents had overdosed at some point in the last year, and
Public Health - Seattle & King County's downtown Seattle needle exchange program recorded one hundred eighty-seven overdose reversals through use of naloxone in two years, averaging over one per week, and
WHEREAS, King County Jail Health Services started a naloxone dispensing pilot program in 2012 that has trained one hundred six people with a history of substance abuse on the use of naloxone, and the pilot program has reported successful overdose reversals by both those trained through the program and friends and family members trained by the trainees, and
WHEREAS, current Washington law allows limited possession and administration of naloxone by nonlicensed people, Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1671 would clarify and expand distribution rules to allow for distribution of naloxone by non-licensed individuals via standing orders, and
WHEREAS, Engrossed Subst...

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