Several Western PA members of the US House of Representatives are asking for guidelines for the use of a drug to combat overdoses.
Representative Mike Kelly was among those to sign a letter to Governor Tom Wolf requesting that he issue state guidelines for prescribing naloxone. Representatives Keith Rothfus and Glenn Thompson also signed the letter along with four other legislators from Pennsylvania.
Naloxone has been used as an antidote for acute opioid toxicity or overdose for the past 40 years but the congressmen believe that the lack of public guidelines has led to a stigma about the drug.
State police were recently authorized to carry and administer naloxone in an effort to reverse a large number of overdoses in the state. Naloxone has no potential for abuse and can be administered by people without medical training.