A new law (AB 2760) took effect in California on Jan. 1, 2019. It requires your doctor to offer a prescription for an opioid reversal agent (Naloxone) when prescribing opioid pain relievers, if certain other conditions are met. (Examples of such “other conditions” are higher doses of opioids or when opioids are prescribed with sedatives like benzodiazepines.)

Naloxone is an emergency medicine, like having an Epinephrine pen in case of allergy attack. Naloxone is an opioid reversal agent that can be used if a patient becomes oversedated and unconscious from an opioid medication. There are many opioid pain relievers but some of the most commonly prescribed are: Norco, Vicodin, Percocet, codeinecontaining medications, Morphine, and Duragesic patches.

At normal opioid doses, it is rare for this over-sedation to occur. The risk goes up if you use alcohol, a sleeping pill, anxiety medications or other sedating substances at the same time as an opioid.

Your health and wellbeing are our primary concern. Please take your opioid pain medications only as prescribed, and do not mix with alcohol or other drugs.

The choice to purchase the naloxone prescription is yours.

The complete details of this new legislation can be found at the following website here.

Click Here for our Patient Handout on Opioid Overdose Treatment