Florida Senate - 2024                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 66
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì273702}Î273702                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  01/24/2024           .                                
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       The Committee on Rules (Brodeur) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete line 71
    4  and insert:
    5  availability and safe use of opioid antagonists as an effective
    6  way to
    7  
    8  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
    9  And the title is amended as follows:
   10         Delete lines 9 - 55
   11  and insert:
   12         opioid antagonists as an effective way to rapidly
   13         reverse the effects of opioid overdose; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15  
   16         WHEREAS, the opioid epidemic continues to ravage American
   17  families across the United States, and
   18         WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
   19  reported more than 100,000 overdose deaths in the United States
   20  during the 12-month period that ended in February 2023, and
   21         WHEREAS, most of these deaths were caused by illicit
   22  synthetic drugs like clandestinely manufactured fentanyl, often
   23  in combination with other drugs, and
   24         WHEREAS, in 2021, nearly 71,000 drug overdose deaths
   25  involving synthetic opioids occurred in the United States, which
   26  was more deaths that year than from any other type of opioid,
   27  and
   28         WHEREAS, synthetic-opioid-involved death rates increased by
   29  more than 22 percent from 2020 to 2021 and synthetic opioids
   30  accounted for nearly 88 percent of all opioid-involved deaths in
   31  2021, and
   32         WHEREAS, by comparison, from 1999 to 2021, nearly 280,000
   33  people died in the United States from overdoses involving
   34  prescription opioids, and
   35         WHEREAS, the number of drug overdose deaths involving
   36  prescription opioids in 2021 was nearly five times the number in
   37  1999, and
   38         WHEREAS, in 2021, an average of 45 people died each day
   39  from a prescription opioid overdose, for a total of nearly
   40  17,000 deaths, and
   41         WHEREAS, in 2021, nearly 21 percent of all opioid overdose
   42  deaths involved prescription opioids, and
   43         WHEREAS, 60 percent of all opioid overdose deaths occur in
   44  the home, and
   45         WHEREAS, in 67 percent of opioid overdose deaths, another
   46  person was present at the time and witnessed the death, and
   47         WHEREAS, opioid antagonists are a safe, powerful medication
   48  that can reverse opioid-related overdoses and prevent overdose
   49  deaths, and
   50         WHEREAS, in 2023, in a historic action, the United States
   51  Food and Drug Administration approved naloxone nasal spray as
   52  the first over-the-counter opioid antagonist, and
   53         WHEREAS, most Americans remain unaware of the safety,
   54  availability, and efficacy of opioid antagonists as a life
   55  saving treatment for opioid overdose, and
   56         WHEREAS, the national advocacy efforts of David Siegel and
   57  Jackie Siegel are recognized as they advocate for widespread
   58  availability of opioid antagonists through the Victoria’s Voice