A bill on its way to Governor Gretchen Whitmer would allow many public employees to administer opioid overdose treatments. That’s after being trained to administer the drug.
The problem is people addicted to opioids often hang out in libraries and other places open to the public, and they sometimes overdose with fatal results. The goal of the bill is to allow employees to be trained to administer Narcan or another opioid antagonist without risking legal action.
State Representative Jason Sheperd says people can die waiting for emergency help after an overdose.
“And the more opportunity somebody would have to administer a drug that could save a life, that’s something I’m very interested in making sure we can get in the right hands.”
Sheperd says librarians and other non-emergency public employees would not be required to be trained to administer overdose treatments.