A Great Way To Prevent Opioid Deaths: Overriding Patents On Anti-Overdose Drug (Futurism)

Thursday May 3rd, 2018

In 2016, more than 20,000 Americans died after overdosing on the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national emergency and, you know, pretty much called it a day. Trump has continued the Obama-era funding to grant states extra funding to pay for opioid overdose treatment. But that’s pretty much been his only concrete policy to combat the opioid epidemic.

Well today, activists and health officials sent a potential solution (or at least a way to help prevent overdose-related deaths) to presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, who was put in charge of handling the public health crisis.

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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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