The California State Legislature passed an act to amend Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code, relating to drug overdose treatment in 2014. California Assembly Bill 1535 (2014) delegated the authority to all properly licensed California state pharmacists who had undergone a training program of at least one hour of
continuing education about the pharmacology of
naloxone hydrochloride to dispense naloxone (under brand names including Narcan and Ezvio) under standards developed by the
Medical Board of California
The Medical Board of California (MBC) is a state government agency which licenses and disciplines physicians, surgeons and certain allied healthcare professionals in California. The Board provides two principal types of services to consumers: (1) ...
in conjunction with the
California Society of Addiction Medicine, the
California Pharmacists Association, and any other appropriate entities.
Although the bill does not require that naloxone be dispensed only to those at risk of needing it themselves directly rather than observing secondhand an emergency (suggesting family members of opiate addicts may be eligible, the bill does require with patient consent that the patient's primary care provider be notified with the consent of the patient only, and the legislative's counsel's digest suggests that under the bill trained pharmacists may dispense naloxone (presumably primarily as an off-label intranasal spray or
Ezvio autoinjector unless the patient is trained to perform manual
intramuscular injections in a way similar to how they currently dispense
Plan B and other forms of oral birth control.)
Reception
Counties in California that already had naloxone programs in place saw a lower rise in opiate related deaths than those that didn't, so the bill has generally been supported among professionals.
On a national level, the
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's sta ...
endorses all measures that make it more likely naloxone will be found at the scene of an opiate overdose, including AB1535.
The original bill was sponsored by both the
California Pharmacist's Association and the
Drug Policy Alliance
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is a New York City–based nonprofit organization that seeks to advance policies that “reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and b ...
, with the concurrence of several law enforcement groups, and no opposition.
References
{{reflist
External linksNaloxone CA - a site run by the Drug Policy Alliance that includes a directory of participating pharmacies
AB 1535