House advances bill to help reverse overdoses
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The bill, SB 1415, was proposed by Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, in early January and has not received much pushback as it continues through committees and subcommittees.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, the number of fentanyl overdoses in 2021 was 2039. This is in comparison to a staggeringly smaller number of 48 fentanyl-related deaths in 2007. Fentanyl is an opioid that is considered 100 times stronger than standard morphine, according to the CDC. The majority of fatal fentanyl overdoses are linked to illicitly manufactured fentanyl.
“In 2007, there were 48 fatal fentanyl overdoses in the Commonwealth,” Pillion said. “Last year in 2021 there were 2039. So every day six people die of a fentanyl overdose.”
The data regarding fentanyl overdoses in the Virginia Commonwealth throughout 2022 has not yet been released, however, it is estimated as totaling approximately 1963 deaths, according to the VDH.
SB 1415 proposes that any person can “possess and administer naloxone or other opioid antagonist used for overdose reversal other than naloxone in an injectable formulation with a hypodermic needle or syringe in accordance with protocols developed by the Board of Pharmacy in consultation with the Board of Medicine and the Department of Health, provided that certain other conditions enumerated in current law are met,” according to the Virginia Legislative Information System.
The proposed bill would reduce certain protocols and requirements that are currently necessary for the possession and administration of naloxone. It would require the Department of Health, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and the Department of Corrections to work in unity to create a plan that would provide a safe distribution of naloxone..
“It requires VDH to report on the development of such a plan, including the resources needed to fully implement this plan, to the chairs of the many committees by September 1st of this year,” Pillion said.
Since the bill was pre-filed in January, it has received unanimous approval in all committees and subcommittees with a few amendments.
