New proposals could reduce drug abuse

CORRECTIONS: An earlier version of this article said the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition was a drug abuse-prevention advocacy group. It also advocates for those affected by immigration statuses, gender issues and diseases, not just prescription drug abuse. The earlier version also attributed to Robert Childs the statistic that almost 90 percent of accidental poisonings are due to prescription medications. The accidental poisonings are due to exposures to any kind of medication, including prescription and over-the-counter medications and street drugs. The statistic applies to only North Carolina and not nationwide. The story has been changed to reflect these corrections.

With prescription drug use increasing nationwide and across North Carolina, state advocates and legislators are redoubling efforts to curb abuse among all state residents — including students.

Two-thirds of accidental poisonings involve opioids — common prescription painkillers such as codeine, morphine and Vicodin, said Dr. Kay Sanford, a former epidemiologist for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

The state legislature will reconvene Wednesday. In this session, Republican senators will introduce two recommendations to alleviate opioid abuse, said Robert Childs, executive director for the N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, a drug abuse-prevention advocacy group that also advocates for those affected by immigration statuses, gender issues and diseases. The recommendations would strengthen 911 Good Samaritan Laws and increase access to naloxone, a drug that helps to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

N.C. law does not specify protection for 911 callers from being arrested for drug possession, so people who need emergency medical assistance because of an overdose often do not receive help because bystanders hesitate to call 911, Childs said.

“It sends the message that if you call 911, we will arrest you,” he said.

Sanford said the same situation makes college students wary of reporting a friend for alcohol poisoning, for example.

Stronger Good Samaritan Laws would grant immunity to 911 callers and those needing assistance in the case of an opioid overdose or other substance abuse.

“We absolutely have to get the public involved, and those people who are involved now are calling with the risk of being arrested or getting the person who they are saving arrested,” Sanford said.

The second recommendation involves increasing access to naloxone, a drug that counters the effects of an overdose before opioids attack the brain.

Opioids are considered the most effective painkillers but can induce an overdose if taken with alcohol or stimulants.

Naloxone is usually administered through an EpiPen by another person.

Doctors who prescribe the drug — and the third-party who administers it — could face legal repercussions under current law, Childs said.

He said access to the drug is critical.

“It’s important in a state as rural as North Carolina, where it may take medical emergency assistance 15 or 20 minutes to get to the scene of an overdose that could be fatal in 8 minutes,” Childs said.

The recommendations are co-written by Project Lazarus, a community-based organization that addresses prescription drug abuse in Wilkes County.

Wilkes County had the third worst rate of unintentional overdoses in the country in 2007, but since the project launched that year, the county has experienced a 69 percent drop in overdoses.

Other programs across the state and nation are modeled after Project Lazarus, said Fred Brason, chief executive officer and founder of the project.

“We want to engage the whole community so as to help people respond within their population — whether that be doctors, families or patients — and give them the tools they need,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.