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
Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada.
Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...
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 California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) is the California organization of physicians who specialize in treating addiction. Addiction medicine is the medical specialty that provides care and treatment for people with substance use disorder. I ...
, 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 injection
Intramuscular injection, often abbreviated IM, is the medical injection, injection of a substance into a muscle. In medicine, it is one of several methods for parenteral, parenteral administration of medications. Intramuscular injection may be ...
s 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 an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...
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
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
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 bodi ...
, with the concurrence of several law enforcement groups, and no opposition.
References
External links
Naloxone CA - a site run by the Drug Policy Alliance that includes a directory of participating pharmacies{{Jerry Brown
AB 1535