Michigan health official urges wider naloxone access as fentanyl involved in majority of overdose deaths

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence heard from Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, on efforts to reduce overdose deaths and expand access to naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses.

Bagdasarian told members that fentanyl has become the dominant drug in overdose fatalities. “It’s now involved in 72 percent of overdose deaths,” she said, and noted a recent decline in overall overdose deaths while cautioning that the state still expected roughly 2,000 fatalities in 2024.

Bagdasarian described actions the state has taken to increase naloxone availability: a standing order issued in 2017 to allow wider access without a prescription, an online naloxone portal that mails kits, distribution to community sites and use of opioid settlement funds to buy kits. “Naloxone is a medication that directly reverses overdoses,” she told the committee, and said the nasal-spray form is easy to use and stable in hot or cold conditions.

Why it matters: Committee members focused on whether current efforts are reaching people at highest…