Help save lives:
Increase access to naloxone
For more than 40 years, naloxone has been
saving the lives of people who overdose on
an opioid. With the United States in the midst
of an opioid misuse, overdose and death
epidemic, the American Medical Association
Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse strongly
encourages widespread access to naloxone
as well as broad Good Samaritan protections
to those who aid someone experiencing an
overdose. Combined, these two policies have
saved tens of thousands of lives across the nation.
What physicians can do
The Task Force encourages physicians to consider prescribing naloxone when it is clinically
appropriate to do so. Several factors that may be helpful in determining whether to co-prescribe
naloxone to a patient, or to a family member or close friend of the patient, include:
- Is my patient on a high opioid dose?
- Is my patient also on a concomitant benzodiazepine prescription?
- Does my patient have a history of substance use disorder?
- Does my patient have an underlying mental health condition that might make
him or her more susceptible to overdose? - Does my patient have a medical condition, such as a respiratory disease or other
co-morbidities, that might make him or her susceptible to opioid toxicity, respiratory
distress or overdose? - Might my patient be in a position to aid someone who is at risk of opioid overdose?
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