Calif. Legislator Proposes Allowing Supervised Facilities For Drug Users
The proposal, similar to ordinances being considered in a number of cities, is aimed at helping cut down the number of overdoses.
The Associated Press:
California Lawmaker Wants To Allow Supervised Heroin Use
A lawmaker wants to allow California addicts to use heroin, crack and other drugs at supervised facilities to cut down on overdoses, joining several U.S. cities considering establishing the nation's first legal drug-injection sites. The proposal introduced Tuesday comes as San Francisco, Seattle, New York City and Ithaca, New York, weigh ordinances to set up the facilities, citing the success of a site operating in Canada since 2003. (Noon, 4/5)
Earlier KHN coverage: Boston’s Heroin Users Will Soon Get A Safer Place To Be High (Bebinger, 3/3)
The Connecticut Mirror:
State Reaches Rebate Deal On Price Of Overdose Reversal Drug
State officials have reached an agreement with the maker of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone to receive a $6 rebate for each dose of the drug purchased by a Connecticut government agency. Attorney General George Jepsen wrote to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in September to ask about what he described as a dramatic increase in the price of the drug, which he said occurred as Connecticut and other states were seeking to make it more available to first responders. (Levin Becker, 4/5)
Kaiser Health News:
Opioid Epidemic Spurs Rethink On Medication And Addiction
Drug treatment providers in California and elsewhere have relied for decades on abstinence and therapy to treat addicts. In recent years, they’ve turned to medication. Faced with a worsening opiate epidemic and rising numbers of overdose deaths, policymakers are ramping up medication-assisted treatment. President Barack Obama last week said he’d allocate more money for states to expand access to the medications. He also proposed that physicians be able to prescribe one of the most effective anti-addiction drugs, buprenorphine, to more patients. (Gorman, 4/6)
