Louisiana has issued a standing order for the lifesaving medication naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversal drug, making it available without obtaining a prescription from a doctor.
Naloxone is an antidote medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent heroin, morphine or other opioid overdoses. Once taken, the medication blocks opioid receptor sites, reversing the toxicity of the overdose.
According to the Open Society Foundations, a standing order is defined as a physician’s order that can be exercised by other health care workers once predetermined conditions have been met.
The standing order is a result of legislation that allowed doctors to prescribe the medication to patients who may be at risk for an opioid overdose. The order now allows pharmacists and doctors the ability to distribute naloxone to caregivers, family and friends of an opioid user, along with instructions for proper use, in the case of an emergency. It can be prescribed to pregnant women, as well, in limited doses and under doctor supervision.
Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, signed the order.
“This is an important step in our fight against the opioid epidemic,” Gee said in a press release. “By making this medication and education widely available, people who overdose can get the antidote quickly and administer it safely. This will save lives.”
The drug is administered in the muscles, under the skin, as a nasal spray or as an intravenous injection.
Health care experts have said making naloxone available to laypeople has been an important tool in saving lives for people who have suffered from an opioid overdose.
More than half of states now have standing order programs for naloxone.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said by mid-year 2016, narcotic overdose deaths surpassed homicide deaths in both East Baton Rouge and Orleans parishes.
“Opioid abuse is a concern as 80 percent of heroin users reported starting out misusing prescription opioids,” Edwards said in a press release. “As we continue to work to address the addiction problem, this standing order is one step we can take to help reduce the number of unnecessary deaths.”