ALBANY – Legislation to ensure that opioid patients are provided with educational materials and overdose reversal medication upon their release from treatment facilities has passed in the State Senate. The bill is sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham (D, Mount Kisco).
The bill requires that individuals diagnosed with an opioid use disorder when released from an inpatient facility operated or licensed by the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services be given educational materials related to opioid overdose that conforms to the Department of Health or federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration guidelines for opioid education.
The treatment facility or hospital will also provide patients as they leave the facility with two doses of an opioid antagonist and a prescription for an opioid antagonist.
The legislation also covers inmates being treated for substance use disorder who are being released from a correctional facility.
The status of the bill in the State Assembly was not immediately known.
