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Media Release March 16, 2006

For more information, contact: Kristen Ochoa, MD odprevention@cleanneedlesnow.org

Los Angeles Task Force Created to Prevent Deaths from Drug Overdose

LOS ANGELES - In a landmark event at the Grace Simons Lodge in Elysian Park, sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance and Clean Needles Now, researchers, medical professionals, city officials, law enforcement, drug treatment staff, and community members gathered yesterday for the Los Angeles Overdose Prevention Summit.

Dr. Kristen Ochoa, the summit organizer, was one of the first people to research overdose in the United States. Dr. Ochoa announced the creation of the Los Angeles Overdose Prevention Task Force which aims to reduce the number of overdose deaths in Los Angeles.

In his keynote address, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Director of Public Health for Los Angeles County, announced that the county is considering various options for programs to reduce drug overdose. One of these options is the distribution of naloxone, a prescription drug that reverses the effects of opiate overdose that is used routinely in emergency rooms.

“It is safe, it is not a drug of abuse, it is inexpensive, and it is not addictive,” said Dr. Fielding.

Drug overdose has ranked among the top 10 causes of premature death in Los Angeles County since 1993. Drug overdose was the second leading cause of death in Los Angeles County in 2002 among individuals ages 25-44, exceeding motor vehicle accidents and HIV.

“We have a profound public health crisis,” said Shoshanna Scholar, Executive Director of Clean Needles Now. “Each overdose death is completely, 100% preventable.”

Underscoring the need for drug overdose prevention Kris Elgin, a substance abuse counselor, shared the story of her close friend, a drug user struggling to become sober. One night while using drugs with another person Elgin’s friend died of a drug overdose. His body was dumped at Sunset Junction in Silver Lake. Her friend died because the people with him were afraid to be arrested if they called 911.

Dr. Susan Stone, an emergency room physician in LA County, commented that “This is still being approached as a moral issue, not a scientific issue. Substance abuse is a disease, not a choice. Just as you would not withhold insulin from a diabetic, naloxone should not be denied to an addict who overdoses.”

Dr. Josh Bamberger from San Francisco’s Department of Public Health which has been operating a naloxone distribution program since November 2003, noted that the program resulted in reduced costs to the county as the number of overdose deaths dropped, and that no adverse effects have been reported.

Dr. Steve Jenison of New Mexico’s Department of Public Health explained that under New Mexico law, anyone who administers naloxone in good faith to someone who has overdosed will not be held criminally liable.

Dr. Keith Heinzerling, a research physician at UCLA, noted that from 1990 to 2003, the number of AIDS deaths decreased from 5,057 to 1,368, while drug-induced deaths increased from 1,984 to 3,736. He said that the decrease in AIDS deaths indicates that prevention and treatment work, and that increasing overdose education and substance abuse treatment could help reduce fatal overdoses.

According to Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal, Director of the Urban Community Research Center at California State University Dominguez Hills, only 4% of substance users surveyed had received overdose education.

Event co-sponsors included the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives; California Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS; California State Dominguez Hills Urban Community Research Center; Centerforce; City of Los Angeles AIDS Coordinator's Office; CorrectHELP, Inc.; Cri-help, Inc.; Los Angeles Needle Exchange Coalition; RAND Drug Policy Research Center; Tarzana Treatment Centers; UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; Western Pacific Med/Corp.

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