Dold offers bipartisan bill to make drug overdose antidote more widely available

A bipartisan bill introduced on Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL) would expand access to naloxone, a life-saving antidote for drug overdoses.

Dold and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) introduced Lali’s Law to establish a competitive grant program to help states expand access to naloxone. Its goal is to expand state programs that enable pharmacists to distribute naloxone without a prescription.

Lali’s Law is named after Alex Laliberte, a young man from Illinois’ 10th Congressional District who died of an overdose seven years ago.

“As a co-chair of the Suburban Anti-Heroin Task Force in Illinois, I’ve seen the unimaginable suffering that heroin has brought onto families, but I still can’t even begin to fathom the pain of losing one of my children to a drug overdose,” Dold said. “Lali’s Law amplifies Alex’s heartbreaking story in the United States Congress. It is my hope that through this bipartisan bill, Alex’s lasting legacy will include helping countless people get a second chance at recovery and saving their families from unbearable heartbreak. Working together we can truly save lives.”

Heroin deaths have quadrupled in the U.S. over the last decade. If made more available, naloxone could save 20,000 lives a year, according to the World Health Organization.

“Across Massachusetts and the nation, too many parents are desperately trying to save their child from the opioid crisis’ deadly grip,” Clark said. “Lali’s Law is a commonsense bill that will save lives. I hope Congress will quickly act on this bill and other reforms to end the scourge of this deadly public health crisis.”