WHEREAS, In 2021, more than 106,000 persons died from drug-involved overdoses in the U.S., more than 80,000 of which were reported as opioid overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)[1] and in 2022, the CDC’s preliminary information reports more than 105,000 drug-involved overdoses, nearly 80,000 of which were opioid-involved overdoses;1 California’s Department of Public Health reports more than 7,000 persons in California have died from opioid overdose in 2022 [2];
WHEREAS, California Senate Bill (SB) 367 (Hurtado, 2022), known as the Campus Opioid Safety Act, went into effect on January 1, 2023, establishing requirements for all public colleges and universities to provide students with opioid overdose information and an opioid overdose reversal medication (OORM) on campus [3] and many California Community Colleges comply with (SB) 367 by supplying information about opioid overdoses and offers an OORM to all students through on-campus health clinics;
WHEREAS, The California Department of Healthcare Services has created the Naloxone Distribution Project (NPD), pursuant of California Senate Bill (SB) 833 (2016), Part 6.2, Section 1179.80 [4] and many student health clinics of college campuses regularly receives doses of intranasal naloxone (e.g., Narcan ®) from the NPD, supplying students and student groups on campus; under NPD guidelines, campus clinics are required to distribute Narcan ® doses with a scannable code that directs its users to a training video, allowing anyone who didn’t receive the dose from the clinics directly to still receive training; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan ® for over-the-counter sale in July 2023 [5] and California Community College campuses maintain a responsibility to ensure that all first aid kits on campuses are properly supplied in the event of an emergency situation; however, many colleges do not include Narcan® in first aid kits due to an existing policy requiring all over-the-counter (OTC) medications to be available strictly through campus clinics, which unlike other medications, OORMs only works to reverse opioid overdoses, and will not cause any additional harm if given to someone experiencing another medical emergency [6] and the Good Samaritan and Drug Overdose Treatment Liability laws protect people who administer OORMs from civil liability that might follow injuries caused by administering an OORM7; Now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate for California Community Colleges work with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office to recognize opioid overdose reversal medications as a necessary life saving public resource, like automated external defibrillators (AEDs) [8], and implement a statewide policy requiring an opioid overdose reversal medication to be available in first aid kits, across all California Community College campuses.
Citations:
[1] Drug Overdose Death Rates. National Institute on Drug Abuse https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-r…;
[2] CA Overdose Dashboard. California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard. https://skylab.cdph.ca.gov/ODdash/?tab=Home.
[3] Campus Opioid Safety Act. California Department of Public Health. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/sapb/Pages/Campus-Opioid-Safety-Act.aspx.
[4] Naloxone Grant Program Final Report Background and Definitions. California Department of Public Health. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/SACB/CDPH%20Document%20Library/ Naloxone/NaloxoneGrantProgramFinalReportJuly20
[5] Over the Counter (OTC) Naloxone. California Department of Public Health. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/sapb/Pages/Over-the-Counter-(OTC)-Naloxone. Aspx
[6] Overdose Prevention and Response Toolkit. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
[7] Naloxone. California Department of Public Health. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/sapb/Pages/Naloxone.aspx
[8] New AMA report details grim realities of worsening overdose epidemic. American Medical Association.