I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2850 
To prevent deaths occurring from drug overdoses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 23, 2015 
Ms. EDWARDS (for herself, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. CLARK of 
Massachusetts, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. ELLI-
SON, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. KEATING, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of 
New Mexico, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. MCGOV-
ERN, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. RAN-
GEL, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. TONKO, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, and Ms. LEE) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prevent deaths occurring from drug overdoses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Overdose Stat 
Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, each day in the United States, 
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more than 100 people die from a drug overdose. 
Among people 25 to 64 years old, drug overdose 
causes more deaths than motor vehicle accidents. 
(2) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention reports that nearly 44,000 people in the 
United States died from a drug overdose in 2013 
alone. More than 80 percent of those deaths were 
due to unintentional drug overdoses, and many could 
have been prevented. 
(3) Deaths resulting from unintentional drug 
overdoses increased more than 300 percent between 
1980 and 1998, and more than tripled between 1999 
and 2013. 
(4) Nearly 92 percent of all unintentional poi-
soning deaths are due to drugs. Since 1999, in the 
United States the population of non-Hispanic 
Whites and the population of Indians (as defined in 
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)) have seen 
the highest rates of unintentional drug poisoning 
deaths. 
(5) Opioid medications such as oxycodone and 
hydrocodone were involved in nearly 46 percent of 
all unintentional drug poisoning deaths in 2013. 
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(6) Unintentional drug poisoning deaths involv-
ing heroin nearly tripled between 2010 and 2013 
and were 23 percent of all unintentional drug poi-
soning deaths in 2013. 
(7) Between 1999 and 2010, opioid medication 
overdose fatalities increased by more than 400 per-
cent among women and 265 percent among men. 
(8) Military veterans are at elevated risk of ex-
periencing a drug overdose. Veterans who served in 
Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan and who have combat 
injuries, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other co- 
occurring mental health diagnoses are at elevated 
risk of fatal drug overdose from opioid medications. 
(9) Rural and suburban regions are dispropor-
tionately affected by opioid medication and heroin 
overdoses. From 2000 through 2013, the age-ad-
justed rate for drug poisoning deaths involving her-
oin has increased nearly 11-fold in the Midwest re-
gion and more than 3-fold in the South region. 
(10) Urban centers also continue to struggle 
with overdose, which is the leading cause of death 
among homeless adults. 
(11) In 2009 alone, estimated lost productivity 
and direct medical costs from opioid medication 
poisonings exceeded $20,000,000,000. 
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(12) Opioid medication poisonings cost health 
insurers an estimated $72,000,000,000 annually in 
medical costs. 
(13) Both fatal and nonfatal overdoses place a 
heavy burden on public health and public safety re-
sources, yet there is no coordinated cross-Federal 
agency response to prevent overdose fatalities. 
(14) Naloxone is a medication that rapidly re-
verses overdose from heroin and opioid medications. 
(15) Naloxone has no pharmacological effect if 
administered to a person who has not taken opioids 
and has no potential for abuse. Naloxone provides 
additional time to obtain necessary medical assist-
ance during an overdose. 
(16) Lawmakers in Arkansas, California, Colo-
rado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illi-
nois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massa-
chusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, 
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Caro-
lina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn-
sylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, 
Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and 
the District of Columbia have removed legal impedi-
ments to increasing naloxone prescription and its 
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use by bystanders who are in a position to respond 
to an overdose. 
(17) The American Medical Association and the 
American Public Health Association support further 
implementation of community-based programs that 
offer naloxone and other opioid overdose prevention 
services. 
(18) Community-based overdose prevention pro-
grams have successfully prevented deaths from 
opioid overdoses by making rescue training and 
naloxone available to first responders, parents, and 
other bystanders who may encounter an overdose. A 
study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention of community-based overdose prevention 
programs provided by the Massachusetts Depart-
ment of Public Health found that communities with 
access to overdose prevention programs experienced 
lower mortality rates from opioid overdoses than 
communities that did not have access to overdose 
prevention programs during the study period. 
(19) Over 150,000 potential bystanders have 
been trained by overdose prevention programs in the 
United States. A Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention report credits overdose prevention pro-
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grams with reversing more than 26,000 overdoses 
since 1996. 
(20) At least 188 local overdose prevention pro-
grams are operating in the United States, including 
in major cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, Los An-
geles, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and 
Philadelphia, and statewide in New Mexico, Massa-
chusetts, and New York. Between December 2007 
and March 2014, overdose prevention programs fa-
cilitated by the Massachusetts Department of Public 
Health trained more than 22,500 people who re-
ported more than 2,655 rescues. Since 2004, a pro-
gram administered by the Baltimore City Health 
Department has trained more than 11,000 people 
who reported more than 220 rescues. Project Laz-
arus, an overdose prevention program in Wilkes 
County, North Carolina, reduced overdose deaths 69 
percent between 2009 and 2011. 
(21) In Illinois, the Department of Human 
Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance 
Abuse has enrolled over 20 drug overdose prevention 
programs with over 100 designated sites across Illi-
nois targeting multiple service populations. These 
enrollees include police departments, county health 
departments, medical facilities, licensed substance 
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