[The following is a guest post from PRIUM's General Counsel, Ben Roberts]
Every day we are hearing more news and reporting on the “anti-overdose”
drug Naloxone. Just looking at my Google feed this morning I see articles from Maine,
West
Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia
discussing legislation and it widespread use.
Last year, New Jersey passed the Overdose Prevention
Act which permits broader access to naloxone and provided criminal and
civil protections for those who administer it.
The Governor of West Virginia is about to sign SB
335 which allows medical responders
and law enforcement to carry naloxone as well as allows physicians to prescribe
the drug to those at risk of an overdoes as wells as their family and friends.
Many more state have passed and proposed similar legislation.
I think that these efforts should be applauded. Given the state of the prescription
drug epidemic, overdose prevention is something that should be on every
legislative agenda this year. But when I
see these reactive approaches to public health issues I can’t help but be
reminded of a poem from my childhood.
In Joseph Malines “The Fence or
the Ambulance” a great debate arises in a community about their own “public
health” issue:
Twas
a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed
though
to walk near its crest was so pleasant
But
over its terrible edge there had slipped a duke and many a peasant
So
the people said something would have to be done
But
their projects did not at all tally
Some
said, "Put a fence around the edge of the cliff"
Some,
"An ambulance down in the valley.”
The poem continues with the community
making the choice of the ambulance over the fence.
'For
the cliff is all right if you are careful,' they said,
"And
if folks even slip or are dropping
it
isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
as
the shock down below when they're stopping."
…
Then
an old man remarked: "It's a marvel to me
that people
give far more attention
to
repairing results than to stopping the cause
when
they'd much better aim at prevention
…
if
the cliff we will fence, we might also dispense
with
the ambulance down in the valley.
Overdose prevention, like abuse deterrent
formulations of opioids is a positive step, but
legislators need to be focusing on proactive steps to help avoid this problem
and stem this epidemic.
Ben Roberts
Ben is PRIUM's General Counsel. You can follow him on Twitter @WC_Compliance
As always, you can follow PRIUM @PRIUM1
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