SB2155 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB095 19142 DRJ 45355 b

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008
SB2155

Introduced 2/14/2008, by Sen. Donne E. Trotter

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 301/5-23 new
745 ILCS 49/67.5 new

Amends the Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse and Dependency Act and the Good Samaritan Act. Provides that the Director of Human Services may publish an annual report on statewide drug overdose trends, may establish a program to provide for the publication of drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response literature, may provide advice to State and local officials concerning drug overdose problems, and may award grants to create or support local drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response projects. Provides for civil and criminal immunity for (i) any person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist if he or she, acting with reasonable care, administers without fee an opioid antagonist and believes in good faith that another person is experiencing a drug overdose and (ii) a health care provider who, acting in good faith, prescribes, dispenses, or distributes an opioid antagonist to a person who, in the judgment of the health care provider, is capable of administering the drug in an emergency, and that person (A) believes in good faith that another person is experiencing a drug overdose and (B) administers the opioid antagonist to the other person. Effective January 1, 2009.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse and Dependency Act is amended by adding Section 5-23 as follows:

(20 ILCS 301/5-23 new)

Sec. 5-23. Drug Overdose Prevention Program.

(a)Reports of drug overdose.

(1) The Director may publish annually a report on drug overdose trends statewide that reviews State death rates from available data to ascertain changes in the causes or rates of fatal and nonfatal drug overdose for the preceding period of not less than 5 years. The report shall also provide information on interventions that would be effective in reducing the rate of fatal or nonfatal drug overdose.

(2) The report may include:

(A) Trends in drug overdose death rates.

(B) Trends in emergency room utilization related to drug overdose and the cost impact of emergency room utilization.

(C) Trends in utilization of pre-hospital and emergency services and the cost impact of emergency services utilization.

(D) Suggested improvements in data collection.

(E) A description of other interventions effective in reducing the rate of fatal or nonfatal drug overdose.

(b) Programs; drug overdose prevention.

(1) The Director may establish a program to provide for the production and publication, in electronic and other formats, of drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response literature. The Director may develop and disseminate curricula for use by professionals, organizations, individuals, or committees interested in the prevention of fatal and nonfatal drug overdose, including, but not limited to, drug users, jail and prison personnel, jail and prison inmates, drug treatment professionals, emergency medical personnel, hospital staff, families and associates of drug users, peace officers, firefighters, public safety officers, needle exchange program staff, and other persons. In addition to information regarding drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response, literature produced by the Department shall stress that drug use remains illegal and highly dangerous and that complete abstinence from illegal drug use is the healthiest choice. The literature shall provide information and resources for substance abuse treatment.

The Director may also establish programs for prescribing, dispensing, or distributing naloxone hydrochloride or any other similarly acting and equally safe drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of drug overdose.

(2) The Director may provide advice to State and local officials on the growing drug overdose crisis, including the prevalence of drug overdose incidents, trends in drug overdose incidents, and solutions to the drug overdose crisis.

(c) Grants.

(1) The Director may award grants, in accordance with this subsection, to create or support local drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response projects. Local health departments, correctional institutions, and community-based organizations may apply to the Department for a grant under this subsection at the time and in the manner the Director prescribes.

(2) In awarding grants, the Director shall consider the necessity for overdose prevention projects in various settings and shall encourage all grant applicants to develop interventions that will be effective and viable in their local areas.

(3) The Director shall give preference for grants to proposals that, in addition to providing life-saving interventions and responses, provide information to drug users on how to access drug treatment or other strategies for abstaining from illegal drugs. The Director shall give preference to proposals that include one or more of the following elements:

(A) Policies and projects to encourage persons, including drug users, to call 9-1-1 when they witness a potentially fatal drug overdose.

(B) Drug overdose prevention, recognition, and response education projects in drug treatment centers, outreach programs, and other organizations that work with, or have access to, drug users and their families and communities.

(C) Drug overdose recognition and response training, including rescue breathing, in drug treatment centers and for other organizations that work with, or have access to, drug users and their families and communities.

(D) The production and distribution of targeted or mass media materials on drug overdose prevention and response.

(E) Prescription and distribution of naloxone hydrochloride or any other similarly acting and equally safe drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of drug overdose.

(F) The institution of education and training projects on drug overdose response and treatment for emergency services and law enforcement personnel.

(G) A system of parent, family, and survivor education and mutual support groups.

(4) In addition to moneys appropriated by the General Assembly, the Director may seek grants from private foundations, the federal government, and other sources to fund the grants under this Section and to fund an evaluation of the programs supported by the grants.

Section 10. The Good Samaritan Act is amended by adding Section 67.5 as follows:

(745 ILCS 49/67.5 new)

Sec. 67.5. Drug overdose responders; exemption for overdose response.

(a) Any person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care, administer without fee an opioid antagonist if the person believes in good faith that another person is experiencing a drug overdose. The person shall not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, except willful and wanton misconduct on the part of the person in providing the aid, be (i) liable to a person to whom such aid is provided for civil damages or (ii) subject to criminal prosecution.

(b) A health care provider who, acting in good faith, prescribes, dispenses, or distributes an opioid antagonist to a person who, in the judgment of the health care provider, is capable of administering the drug in an emergency shall not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, except willful and wanton misconduct on the part of the health care provider in prescribing, dispensing, or distributing the opioid antagonist, be liable to a person to whom the aid is provided for civil damages or subject to criminal prosecution if the person to whom the opioid antagonist is prescribed, dispensed, or distributed:

(1) believes in good faith that another person is experiencing a drug overdose; and

(2) administers the opioid antagonist to that other person.

(c) For the purposes of this Section:

"Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride or any other similarly acting and equally safe drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of drug overdose.

"Health care professional" means a physician licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, a physician assistant who has been delegated the provision of health services by his or her supervising physician, or an advanced practice registered nurse who has a written collaborative agreement with a collaborating physician that authorizes the provision of health services.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2009.