Armato, Vainieri Huttle & Verrelli Bill Requiring Opioid Antidote Prescriptions for High-Risk Patients Passes Assembly 

(TRENTON) – With well over 60,000 drug overdose deaths taking place throughout the country each year – the majority involving opioids – three Assembly Democrats sponsor a bill that would require medical practitioners to prescribe an opioid antidote to certain high-risk patients.

Under the bill (A-3869/S-2323), practitioners who prescribe opioids to patients with a history of substance use disorder, a daily opioid prescription greater than 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME), or a concurrent benzodiazepine prescription, must also give their patient a Food and Drug Administration-approved product that can treat/reverse opioid overdoses, such as Naloxone.

Upon the bill passing the full Assembly on Monday, 69-0-1, Assembly sponsors John Armato (D-Atlantic), Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Anthony Verrelli (D-Hunterdon, Mercer) issued the following joint statement:

“It is always a tragedy whenever lives are lost to drug overdoses. It is even more tragic when you consider just how many of those lives could have been saved through access to overdose-reversal products.

“We need to do everything in our power to help give people the resources they need to combat accidental overdoses. When it comes to overdoses – every second is absolutely critical. Prescribing Naloxone to at-risk patients taking opioid pain-killers for chronic or acute pain would ensure this life-saving product is immediately available in the event of an emergency.”

Having previously passed the full Senate, the bill now heads to the Governor.