Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2017
Source: Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
Copyright: 2017 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Emily Lane

NEW LOUISIANA LAW PUTS LIFE-SAVING DRUG IN HANDS OF FIRST RESPONDERS TO
REVERSE HEROIN OVERDOSES

Lawmakers and those who testified on behalf of a bill that would expand
access to a drug that reverses the effects of opiate overdoses discuss the
legislation outside the House Health and Welfare Commitee meeting
Wednesday, April 2, 2014. Pictured from left are Rep. Bernard LeBas,
D-Ville Platte; State Fire Marshal Butch Browning; Rep. Helena Moreno,
D-New Orleans; East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. Williams "Beau" Clark;
and Louisiana Fireman's Association President Kenny Hunt. Gov. Bobby
Jindal signed the bill into law on Wednesday, May 28, 2014. (Emily Lane,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Paramedics, firefighters and police officers will soon have authority to
carry and administer a life-saving drug to people suffering from heroin
overdoses.

Amid soaring increases in heroin use and deadly overdoses, Rep. Helena
Moreno, D-New Orleans, sponsored a bill granting first responders
authority to dispense naloxone. Gov. Bobby Jindal's signed the bill into
law Wednesday (May 28), his office announced Thursday.

Moreno's bill expands access to Naloxone, also called by its brand name
Narcan, which is a prescription drug commonly administered by emergency
room doctors to reverse the effects of opiate overdoses. Providing first
responders with the drug would give overdose victims a better chance of
survival, since minutes are critical in the midst of a potentially fatal
overdose.

It's likely that law enforcement and firefighters in more heavily
populated cities, as opposed to rural areas, will take advantage of the
new law, Louisiana State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said. Departments
that choose to carry and administer the drug would adopt training and
protocols for its use.

In southeast Louisiana, at least 144 people died of heroin overdose,
Moreno noted during a committee hearing.

A related bill awaiting Jindal's signature gives legal immunity to
witnesses of drug overdoses who call for help. The Louisiana Legislature
gave full passage May 20 to legislation dubbed the "Good Samaritan" law,
which its sponsor Sen. Sharon Weston Broome, D-Baton Rouge, says could
help save lives.
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