Naloxone Anti-Overdose Bill Moving in New Jersey
A bill that would expand access to the overdose-blocking drug naloxone is moving in the New Jersey legislature. The bill, Senate Bill 2082, the Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act passed the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee Monday on a unanimous vote and now heads for a Senate floor vote.
[image:1 align:left]A companion measure, Assembly Bill 95, awaits a hearing before the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee.
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, meaning it blocks and reverses the effects of opioid drugs, such as heroin, morphine, and Oxycontin. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report from last February found that some 50 naloxone programs nationwide had reversed more than 10,000 overdoses.
Naloxone is available only by prescription in New Jersey. The bill would expand access to the drug by providing protection from civil and criminal liability to medical professionals who prescribe the drug and laypersons who administer it.
Advocates applauded the bill's clearing the first hurdle and urged the legislature to finish the job.
"We must have a comprehensive strategy to reduce the huge number of tragic and preventable overdose deaths in New Jersey," said Roseanne Scotti, New Jersey state director for the Drug Policy Alliance. "Expanded access to Naloxone is a key component in that strategy. This bill will save lives and should now be acted on by the legislature with all possible speed. Lives hang in the balance."
"Drug overdose continues to be the leading cause of accidental death in New Jersey," said Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge). "Each year it surpasses the number of deaths caused by automobile accidents and guns. Expanding access to naloxone will allow this medication to reach its full public health potential and will be an important part of New Jersey's comprehensive efforts to address drug abuse."
Patty DiRenzo of Blackwood lost her son, Salvatore, to an overdose when he was 26 years old.
"Sal was a beautiful soul who unfortunately struggled with addiction. If the people he was using with on the night he died had access to naloxone, he might still be alive today. Instead, my son was left alone to die. It's extremely important to have policies like this one in place, so that other families are spared the grief that mine has endured."
Eight states and the District of Columbia have already passed legislation easing access to Naloxone in a bid to reduce drug overdose deaths.
Comments
thanks yeah and no thanks too
OK I'm writing this reply because I live in NYC at the moment and all things about opiates effect my life. uhhh my life is completely consumed with opiate use and drug prohibition, uhh I am a nomadic homeless full time junkie and uhh am working towards my 11th year as a professional junkie. thanks thats all i wanted to say to qualify myself to speak about this.
so this is pretty interesting, in a way. so the fat man across the G.W has said before that the war on drugs is a failure. you know, call me a paranoid, mentally and physically ravaged heroin junkie but im afraid this war on drugs (and war on us yes us directly) has pushed me into a state of mine where the saying "just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you" is pretty much the truth of my life.
I cannot believe for one minute that this naloxone deal is about preventing OD as it's primary reason for going down. I am afraid that I have little reason to think that the gov't in NJ gives a damn about opiate users and that they wanna help us out. I don't think so.
Let me tell you what I think this is really about. I think this is about, ultimately, the further perpetuation of the last of the three big pieces of crap/wastes of time. Those three terrible things are, 1. Methadone. 2. Buprenorphine and 3. Naloxone. Hey I dont have the head to get into these three terrible things. Let me put it to you like this - a British doctor said once about pathetic U.S drug opinions and policy that methadone was essentially addiction without pleasure. Think about that. How f'n stupid is that? He said that they get us loaded up on methadone and because there's no pleasure involved this addiction is 'morally acceptable' whereby proper opiate maintenance would not be. HE'S RIGHT. LOL. How pathetic is that? Addiction without pleasure. Pathetic puritanical anglo-saxon ideals enforced on us but you dont have to look that far or that hard to see just how pathetic most of the people using methadone are.
Look as a junkie I totally understand the value of withdrawal suppresants. I am not completely anti methadone anti suboxone etc. There is a great value in withdrawal suppresants to be sure. As a maintenance drug though? LOL don't make me laugh.
And Im just gonna say I get that this isnt talking about maintenance at the moment or even treatment of the lie that is 'drug addiction.' Let me be clear - it's real nice to have better and easier access to anti OD drugs but I dont think for a second that this is about that. I think this is about one thing and one thing only. Naloxone and it's proponents are trying to play catch up with buprenorphine. They didn't discover over night some recent time that naloxone can be used in blocking opiate receptors and so has some idiot doctors with invested interest thinking this is the next big thing in 'opiate treatment.' I think Naloxone watched as suboxone cut in on the methadone market and got all this bogus praise that it's better than methadone. No it's not better than methadone. They both suck major balls. I'll tell you right now why junkies get on the sub bandwagon and it's real simple and has nothing to do with a desire to be clean or abstinant. It's got everything to do with: NO DISPENSARY RULES. LOL.
Instead of the everyday hastle of a methadone clinic you see a doctor, get a script and throw the pathetic suboxone in the closet for a rainy day. Thats why it's preferred over methadone - LOL NOT BECAUSE IT WORKS BETTER. They BOTH suck.
Who knows why the naloxone people started their aggressive campaign to get in on this. Too bad for those bastards every time they tried to start up a naloxone experiment 90% of the subjects drop out. So they include methadone and buprenorphine in the opening phase of the trials, then drop it and attribute any little success to naloxone when in actuality it's just the meth and the bupe. Naloxone has been pretty aggressive about it as well. But too bad for them Naloxone is the last thing any true junkie would ever want - unless we're talking about an O.D.
Yeah I think this is just one small move on Naloxone's part to further gain ground in their war for supremacy with the other two pathetic waste of time drugs methadone and buprenorphine. I can see it all too clearly, "oh, naloxone has done such great wonders since we made it widely available. It has prevented so many ODs! Well guess what?! Naloxone doesnt just do that, it can also be used as a rehabilitiative tool! It's the best thing in the world! it's better than methadone and suboxone!" LOL. It's so predictable.
But no, it's not true and proponents of it I hope you rot in hell. I feel real bad for these 20 year veterans of methadone who've gotten fat and pathetic as hell doing their daily track to the clinic for a disgusting and sad 350+ mgs of liquid methadose. hey i've been there man. ill take the unknown and danger of a condemned, asbestoss, roach and rat infested flop house and every day starvation but every day dope use over methadone and possibile shelter and food access any day. Matter of fact, I beg anybody to please kill me if it would ever seem as though I was headed down the path of life long methadone/suboxone/naloxone use. Yes that's right please kill me. Death is far preferrable to life on those three wastes of time.
So yeah I don't buy the OD stuff. I dont think Christie or NJ or anybody for that matter gives two cents about us and wants to help us. I think this is really naloxone making a move. Call me paranoid.
I know i don't know anywhere
I know i don't know anywhere near as much about heroin as you (i used it maybe thirty times total in my life, tops. I had one big overdose (unconscious for many hours, purple bloated body according to my family, hospital, etc), and two or three not-as-serious overdoses (when you know you took too much and you feel like your heart's not beating right and blood's not reaching your exrtemities, and you can't breathe right, and so on (but you're still conscious); i suppose you have experienced that many times)). The smaller ones happened after the big one. I was afraid I was going to die (and it felt that way), although i obviously wasn't because i was still conscious so, looking back, i know it wasn't gonna be enough to kill me if i wasn't even unconscious). Even if i didn't die i was afraid i was going to go unconscious and end up like the other time. I've heard experienced users can handle that better because they don't freak out and they know they're not going to die, but i certainly was scared as shit. At that time, knowing as i did that naloxone existed, all i could think about was access to it. In my opinion, so what that someone somewhere is going to make money off of manufacturing and distributing this thing. Even if they don't care about people and just care about money, it's the right thing that opiate users have access to od antidotes. With the drug war it makes sense to be paranoid, but in this case i actually think this is good news.
So, why Heroine over a 30%
So, why Heroine over a 30% larger dose of Morphine? The objective tests that I have seen showed that the preference to Heroine were similar to brand preferences- the difference is mostly subjective related to belief.
One time I was in low level rehab, and I had a dream that they put me on Naloxone for Cannabis addiction. It doesn't make much sense since Naloxone is a mu-opioid receptor antagonist not a CB-1 receptor antagonist and it couldn't possibly abolish all the aspects of Cannabis high. In addition, I was given Suboxone (whicha apparently has Naloxone in it) once and at the time I didn't know it was meant as an opiate treatment. It gave a light buzz which Alcohol slightly increased but was not satisfying until a good ol Cannabis sesh (as is the norm with most drugs I've done)!
naloxone
What is the cost? I'm not
What is the cost? I'm not sure that someone abusing drugs is going to spend money for an overdose remedy. Purchasing the remedy implies a level of personal responsibility that I'm not sure addicts possess. I think they would spend the money on additional drugs rather than an overdose drug.
I don't think it will encourage people to push the envelope, but addicts tend to have other medical issues as a result of addiction. DYI medicine isn't going to address those issues. The article doesn't answer many questions, and I admit I know nothing about this drug, which is a good thing, I guess. Are there consequences for taking it "too early," for lack of a better term? Can one overdose on it? What are the consequences of an overdose? What happens if they take 4 doses of Nalaxone? How many doses are in a package?
I just don't see someone taking drugs spending money for it and using good judgement in using the "antidote." I do see someone who is toying with experimenting with a drug purchasing it. The best way to cure an addict is to prevent them from touching the drug. If the fear of an overdose is removed, will it increase experimentation and addiction?
Good point. As usual, the
Good point. As usual, the wealthier will have more access to opiates, treatment programs, and emergency services (not that access to treatment is enough sometimes, as so many have shown us).
Frankly, I think that the pharmaceutical companies have a very big interest in their drug addicted customers. They must hate every heroin overdose that takes yet another paying customer away from them.
The general public, not so much. It is easy to assume that junkies are deficient, not like you and me, etc. Of course the big problem is that too many people simply do not have meaningful lives.
Add new comment