Quinn’s Opioid Overdose Reversal Bill Signed Into Law In Harrisburg

RADNOR, PA — Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law today that will extend the state’s Good Samaritan protections for the use of new opioid overdose reversal drugs.

State Rep. Chris Quinn, a Republican representing Radnor, is the prime sponsor of the legislation to improve the fight against the opioid epidemic.

“I am grateful to Gov. Wolf signed this important legislation into law that will help Pennsylvania fight this crippling epidemic that has impacted far too many families,” Quinn said in a prepared statement after a ceremony Thursday.

Good Samaritan laws provide immunity from civil damages for personal injuries, even including death, that result from ordinary negligence.

In 2014, the General Assembly passed Act 139, providing legal immunity to those who administer naloxone, commonly known by its trade name, Narcan.

Quinn’s legislation, which passed the House unanimously in June, substitutes “opioid antagonist” for “naloxone” in the law, which allows other reversal drugs to protect users from civil penalties.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, drug overdoses rose 31% nationally in the most recent year for which there is complete data, 2020, to almost 92,000.

In a four-year period ending this January, the state Department of Health reported more than 67,000 doses of Narcan were administered by EMS.

Quinn noted these figures do not consider the many doses administered by others.

“These drugs have saved lives, and as medicine evolves our laws must keep pace,” Quinn said. “I am proud of this bipartisan legislation that will unquestionably save lives.”