PRODUCER & EDITOR
Convergence Reporting
Legislators work to expand access to overdose drug
BY WHITNEY MATEWE & DANIELLE HOGERTY
Taylor Mabery knows the consequences of heroin addiction firsthand. She was just 9 years old when her mother died of a heroin overdose. Seven years later she saw her father die the same way. Mabery remembers the panic and desperation as she waited for emergency responders on the day of his overdose. “I could’ve saved him that day,” Mabery said, referring to administering an opiate overdose reversal drug Narcan. Narcan, has been in circulation in the U.S. for years, but it was not until 2014 that the Missouri legislature allowed emergency responders to administer the drug.
Missouri is one of many states that is experiencing a growth in opiate-related drug overdoses according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not only is heroin more accessible, but it is also cheaper than prescription pain medication, according to Rep. Steve Lynch. Lynch is the District 122 Missouri House Representative sponsoring House Bill 1658. The bill would allow any person to purchase Narcan at a pharmacy. Missouri is one of the last states to consider increasing public access to the drug. Nineteen states have statutes allowing third party access to Narcan for people at risk of overdosing, according research compiled by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Last week, nine people died of heroin overdose in St. Louis, said 5th District Councilman Patrick Dolan.
Last year, Lynch sponsored a bill identical to HB 1658, but disputes in the senate over the Right to Vote bill prevented any other bill from getting signed. “The reality of it is, it probably let 200 people die and that's a hard thing to swallow,” Lynch said. The U.S. consumes nearly 80 percent of all the world’s pain pills while it represents less than 5 percent of the world’s population, Chad Sabora said. Sabora is the co-founder of the Missouri Network for Opiate Reform and Recovery. “We have a prescription drug problem in the USA,” Sabora said. Sabora is a recovering heroin addict whose addiction started through prescription drugs after the death of both of his parents from cancer. “Mine in the beginning was a legitimate prescription from a doctor,” Sabora said. “But I found that it fixed something inside of me that was hurting.”
In 2008, Sabora came close to dying from heroin overdose, but a friend saved his life by administering Narcan. “Overdosing is not fun, even if Narcan is there,” Sabora said. “It’s not pleasant to wake up from an overdose.” Statistically, when states legalize public access to Narcan there is a 40 percent reduction in overdose deaths, said Lynch. The CDC estimates 44 people a day in the U.S. die from overdose of prescription painkillers. “Everyone that gets a prescription should have Narcan,” Sabora said.