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PHOENIX (AP) — Legislation approved by an Arizona House committee on Tuesday would allow family members of people at risk of overdosing on opiates to get a drug used as an antidote without a prescription.
House Bill 2355 by Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, is designed to make it easier for loved ones of heroin or other opiate users to save their lives if they overdose.
"The challenge is getting this medication in the hands of the person who may be with the person overdosing," Carter said. "There is a window of time where you have to administer this to save the life."
A bill Carter sponsored last year that was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey allows trained emergency medical technicians or police officers to administer the drug naloxone hydrochloride, known by the brand name Narcan, in an emergency. The drug blocks the effect of opiates on the brain and restores normal breathing if administered quickly.
Carter's new bill requires the state pharmacy board to develop protocols for dispensing the drug without a prescription. It also gives immunity from liability to doctors and pharmacists who dispense the drug and to anyone who administers it in good faith to someone they believe has suffered an overdose.
The House Health Committee approved the bill on a 6-0 vote Tuesday.
Laura Cox, the mother of a heroin addict from Camp Verde, testified that rural families who don't have immediate access to emergency services need the drug to save lives. She added that many drug addicts don't trust authority, meaning it's up to the people around the addicts to use naloxone to prevent a fatal overdose.
"They live on the fringe of society. They are not necessarily trustful of the police or emergency workers," Cox said. "Expanding the availability of naloxone is critical. Nobody deserves to lose a child."
Carter amended her new proposal to include anyone who is in a position to help an overdose victim, and to add nurse practitioners to the list of medical professionals allowed to prescribe the drug.
Numerous states have been expanding access to Narcan to help combat deaths from overdoses of both prescription opiates such as Vicodin and from heroin.
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