Baltimore health commissioner says businesses can help with opioid epidemic (Baltimore Sun)

Tuesday Dec 19th, 2017

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana S. Wen told business leaders Tuesday that they can play a role in fighting the opioid epidemic and offered examples of how they can help.

Speaking at a breakfast briefing sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Committee, Wen said one thing businesses can do to help reduce the staggering number of overdoses facing the country is to have their employees trained to administer naloxone, the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses.

“If you have a defibrillator available, why not also have naloxone?” Wen said. “It could be one of your employees. It could be someone who is a passerby. You have the opportunity to save a life.

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When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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