AMA strengthens its policies promoting naloxone access and education

CHICAGO — Physicians and medical students acted today to strengthen existing AMA policy promoting increased access to naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing drug. The added policy, adopted today at the AMA Annual Meeting, supports implementation of naloxone rescue stations in public areas where the life-saving drug can be stored and accessed.

Current AMA policy already urges that all forms of naloxone should be readily available to prevent opioid overdose fatalities, and calls for manufacturers or drug sponsors to pursue over-the-counter approval of naloxone with the Food and Drug Administration. The widespread availability of naloxone in public locations can only be successfully accomplished when this happens.