Gov. Wolf Asking Lawmakers For Another $10 Million To Battle Opioid Epidemic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With the opioid epidemic continuing to grow in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf says he will ask lawmakers for another $10 million to provide more life-saving naloxone to first responders and police.
This is an effort to expand access to naloxone, which can prevent overdose deaths.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in Pennsylvania, killing even more people than fatal car crashes.
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The governor says that needs to change.
"This is a big day, this is a very important day," says Wolf.
Wolf wants to ensure that police and first responders are equipped with naloxone, which reverses heroin and other opioid overdoses.
"This $10 million will help local responders all across Pennsylvania begin the process of helping people who suffer from substance use disorder," says Wolf.
Since November 2014, more than 2,300 overdoses have been reversed by first responders armed with naloxone.
"We have to get over the stigma," says Wolf. "We have to recognize it for the serious disease that it is and if we do that we know we can solve this problem."
Pennsylvania now ranks among the top in the country for drug overdose deaths. The governor's office says heroin overdoses kill at least seven Pennsylvanians a day.
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Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey is now the chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which administers the funding for substance abuse programs.
"I have never seen a situation like we're faced with today, not just in Pennsylvania, but across the country with this opioid abuse, the overdoses that are leading to death," says Ramsey.
The governor's request needs to be approved by the legislature.
Wolf says expanding access to naloxone comes with something that's called a "warm-handoff" policy. Those saved from overdosing are transferred to a drug treatment provider.
The drug problem here is being called a public health crisis.