Senators back order for opioid overdose fighter

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — The Latest on a North Carolina state Senate committee debating a bill that would create a statewide standing order for a drug that could block opioid overdoses (all times local):

3:10 p.m.

North Carolina’s health director says a statewide standing prescription for a drug that can block potentially fatal overdoses of heroin or OxyContin could save scores of additional lives annually.

Dr. Randall Williams talked to a Senate committee Tuesday about legislation the panel recommended that would allow anyone to obtain a prescription for naloxone (na-LOCKS’-own) to reverse an opioid overdose in an emergency.

A 2013 law in part has allowed law officers and first responders to implement naloxone injections or nasal sprayers on people expected of overdosing.

Williams says only two other states have such a standing order but called it an innovative and bold way to address “the public health crisis of our time.” Unintentional medication or drug overdose deaths increased more than 300 percent between 1999 and 2014.

__

4:35 a.m.

An injection that can stop fatal overdoses of heroin or OxyContin could become more readily available in North Carolina.

State health officials want a statewide standing order for physicians to prescribe naloxone (na-LOCK-sewn) for an opioid overdose in an emergency. The Senate Health Care Committee scheduled a hearing Tuesday on legislation for the state health director to set the order.

A 2013 law allowed law officers and first responders to use naloxone. The law allows relatives of those at risk of overdosing to obtain prescriptions.

Unintentional overdose deaths increased by more than 300 percent in North Carolina from 1999 to 2014. The state Department of Health and Human Services says more than 1,000 overdoses were reversed last year, more that the number of overdose deaths.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)