Community groups can now mail naloxone under new Pa. standing order

Naloxone can now be mailed by community groups to anyone who wants the opioid overdose antidote under an updated standing order.

State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine signed the updated order Tuesday that makes the change to allow for easier access while restrictions are in place related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Naloxone has been attributed as one of the reasons drug overdose deaths have been decreasing in Westmoreland County. Tim Phillips, director of the county’s drug overdose task force, said they have been working with The Medicine Shoppe in Latrobe to get naloxone in the mail to anyone who requests a dose.

That has been critical, “particularly when we were quarantined,” he said, referring to a period of time this spring when state officials enacted stay-at-home orders and business closures related to the pandemic.

Naloxone is available at pharmacies statewide under the standing order issued in 2016 in an effort to battle increasing drug overdose deaths. Phillips said the task force will probably stick with the Latrobe pharmacy for now rather than try to set up its own mailing process.

“We’ll do it with any pharmacy that would like to do it with us,” he said.

Ambulance providers in Westmoreland County have administered 306 doses of naloxone between January 2018 and March, according to state data. In Allegheny, 1,403 doses have been administered in the same time frame.

Pennsylvania saw a slight decrease in drug overdose deaths in 2019 for what could be the second consecutive year the number has dropped. The state health department last month released preliminary data that shows 4,348 people died in Pennsylvania from a drug overdose last year, a 1.7% decrease from 2018 when the state saw 4,491 deaths. Officials were awaiting information in 62 more deaths.

In Westmoreland, drug overdose deaths have decreased for the last two years, while Allegheny saw a decrease in 2018 followed by a slight increase last year.