Letter: Expanding access to Naloxone will save lives

Expanding the availability of Naloxone is essential considering the increased incident rates of heroin and opiate abuse. Allowing emergency responders, police officers, and family members improved access to this 'emergency drug” would help create a safety net, which would only act to benefit all participants involved. A criticism of this piece of legislation is that it would perpetuate a 'false sense of security” for family members and that drug users could potentially become reliant on this medication to save their lives. This perception is problematic because it reduces the scope of this issue as opposed to seeing it as a public health epidemic.

Drug addition does not only impact people considered a part of a vulnerable population; it affects us all in the sense that the majority of us know at least one person who either uses, abuses or has died of a drug overdoes.

I strongly support increasing access to Naloxone, as it has the potential to save many peoples' lives.

Kathryn Cummings

Iowa City