A Nebraska State Senator from Omaha is working to prevent fentanyl overdoses in the state.
Fentanyl deaths have increased every year since 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, about 75,000 of the nearly 110,000 overdose deaths could be linked to fentanyl.
Initiatives in the metro that 6 News has covered include the health department distributing the life-saving treatment for overdose, naloxone, commonly known as Narcan.
A new initiative by Sen. Tony Vargas looks to prevent rather than treat an overdose.
LB1325 allows pharmacies to sell test strips that detect fentanyl. In some states, these potentially life-saving strips are considered drug paraphernalia. In others, they’re not.
The bill provides some clarity, says Marcia Mueting with the Nebraska Pharmacists Association.
Marcia: “I’ve had lots of pharmacists call me and say, ‘Can I sell these?’ And I didn’t know the answer.”
She and the association support the bill that Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha has proposed.
Vargas: “I was encouraged to bring this bill after seeing other states’ successful bipartisan effort to enact similar legislation.”
The bill would also allow but does not mandate that local health departments provide these strips for free. Sen. Merv Riepe asked how much it costs per strip. They cost about $1 each. Sen. Ben Hansen voiced some concerns which were made through online comments that opposed the bill. Those concerns are greenlighting taxpayer dollars to provide the strips.
Maggie Ballard with Heartland Family Service, a non-profit in Omaha, provided this perspective.
Heartland Family Service: “The concern about spending taxpayer dollars on these strips, the flip side of that argument is saying those people that are perhaps going to die of an overdose, that they are not worth the $1 of that testing strip that would keep them alive.”
“The statistics should tell enough of the story about this epidemic,” said Vargas. “And what we should be doing proactively to prevent it.”
6 News has spoken with multiple families in the metro who experienced a loss due to fentanyl and grapple with the preventability of fentanyl overdose, including Kristi Wishnack who lost her son Zack.
“He definitely did not know that it was fentanyl,” said Wishnack. “So, we get to live with that every single day knowing that it was something that could have been avoided.”
Five people submitted online comments in opposition and five people submitted comments of support online. The Health and Human Services Committee will consider whether to move this forward for the rest of the legislature to consider.
By Bella Caracta – WOWT News
Tags: Fentanyl Harm Reduction Legislation Opioid Epidemic Test Strips