Board accepts naloxone grant and asks agency for distribution plan

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted July 11 to accept a Department of Public Health naloxone grant and asked the Health Care Agency to return with a detailed distribution plan and expert briefing before broad community distribution.

Mary Hale of the Health Care Agency told the board the grant targets "individuals that are at high risk for having the overdose," specifically family members, treatment providers and community programs outside of law enforcement and fire agencies. She said the single responsive bidder, Solus, will be required to deliver a distribution plan to the county in August.

Several supervisors urged caution. Supervisor Spitzer said he had not been briefed previously and wanted a public conversation about whether naloxone should be distributed to laypeople before the board approved the grant. He asked whether the county could accept the award conditionally and, if necessary, return it to the state if a majority of supervisors did not later support distribution to end users. Mary Hale said the Department of Public Health requires a board resolution accepting the award before it will provide the naloxone and that the county could seek to delay acceptance if the board preferred.

Supervisor Nelson and others argued that the potential to save lives weighed heavily in favor of accepting the noncompetitive grant now while staff develops a distribution plan. Supervisor Nelson noted that naloxone is not prone to recreational misuse and said "the risks of not taking this far outweigh the risks of taking it and having a bad distribution plan."

The board approved acceptance with an instruction that the Health Care Agency work with the vendor to prepare a distribution plan and brief supervisors; the motion passed 3–1 (one supervisor opposed). The agency leader said that before actual distribution to community recipients the board would receive the proposed plan and additional expert information.

Quote: "This is actually, asking for permission to accept the naloxone," Mary Hale said. Supervisor Spitzer said, "We need to have a public conversation about that," and Supervisor Nelson said, "I just think the risks of not taking this far outweigh the risks of taking it and having a bad distribution plan."

Next steps: The Health Care Agency will collect the vendor's distribution plan and return to the board with an education/briefing package and proposed implementation steps before broad distribution to community individuals or programs.