Governor Laura Kelly has signed substitute bill for Senate Bill 193, which removes administrative barriers for law enforcement agencies to provide lifesaving care to Kansans during an opioid overdose. Previously, law enforcement officers faced barriers to obtain naloxone, also known as narcan, which reverses the effects of opioids, due to a statutory requirement mandating agencies to have a medical director or licensed pharmacist. This bill changes this outdated and unnecessary requirement now that these lifesaving drugs are available over the counter. The governor says the opioid epidemic has cost thousands of our fellow Kansans their lives. This commonsense fix will empower our first responders throughout our state to save lives.
Governor Kelly has consistently taken steps to combat the opioid epidemic in Kansas, including allocating funding for schools to have naloxone on hand, making historic investments to give law enforcement additional resources to crack down on illegal drugs, and signing landmark bipartisan legislation that decriminalized fentanyl test strips in 2023.
