Help for overdoses

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control includes a frightening statistic: While opioid-related deaths are decreasing nationally, they are surging in Oklahoma. More than 840 Oklahomans now suffer annually from accidental and preventable deaths related to legal opioids, like Oxycontin and Hydrocodone, and their illegal counterparts like heroin.

A consistently effective method for combating these deaths has been to outfit first responders with the drug naloxone, which quickly reverses the effects of an overdose and has proven to be safe and extremely effective. Pilot programs between the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Department of Health and first responders are credited with saving hundreds of lives since 2013. Oklahoma City firefighters, for instance, administered naloxone 568 times between 2013 and 2016, successfully reversing an overdose in more than half of those instances.

Unfortunately, local and state governments are facing an enormous budget crunch. The ability to train and outfit our law enforcement agents and other first responders with naloxone is hamstrung by very limited resources. President Trump has correctly identified the opioid crisis as a national epidemic that requires national solutions, and Congress is responding with several proposals. One, which Oklahoma is poised to immediately benefit from, is federal funding to support outfitting every patrol car with naloxone. It is my hope that our federal officials enthusiastically back this proposal.

State Sen. AJ Griffin, Guthrie Griffin, a Republican, represents District 20 in the Oklahoma Senate.