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From YouTube: Committee on Public Health and Human Services 11-13-2018
Description
The Committee on Public Health and Human Services of the Council of the City of Philadelphia held a Public Hearing on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 to hear testimony on the following item:
180695 An Ordinance amending Title 9, "Regulation of Businesses, Trades and Professions," of The Philadelphia Code to add a new Section 9-637, entitled "Opioid Antidote Availability," to require pharmacies to stock opioid antidotes and display signs giving notice of opioid antidote availability to customers, all under certain terms and conditions.
Committee on Public Health and Human Services
Chair: Councilwoman Cindy Bass (8th District)
Vice Chair: Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez (7th District)
A
Good
afternoon
Thank
You
Jane,
this
hearing
is
called
to
order.
This
is
the
public
hearing
of
the
City
Council
Committee
on
Public
Health
and
Human
Services,
and
the
purpose
of
this
public
hearing
is
to
hear
testimony
on
bill
number
one:
eight,
zero,
six,
nine
five
I
want
to
recognize
the
presence
of
a
quorum
of
committee
members
and
the
members
in
attendance
are
councilman
algae,
bugger,
councilman,
bill
Greenlee
and
Councilwoman
Helen
gem,
and
if
we
can
now
have
the
clerk,
read
the
title
of
bill
number
one:
eight
six,
one:
eight
zero,
six,
nine
five
bill.
B
Number
one:
eight:
zero,
six,
nine
five
amending
title:
nine
regulation
of
businesses,
trades
and
professions
of
the
Philadelphia
Code
to
add
a
new
section:
nine
637
entitled
opioid
antidote
availability
to
require
pharmacies
to
stop
opioid
antidotes
and
display
signs,
giving
notice
of
opioid
the
antidote
availability
to
customers
all
under
certain
terms
and
conditions.
Thank.
A
C
Afternoon,
chairman
Bassett
members
of
the
Public
Health
and
Human
Services
Committee
and
dr.
Thomas
Farley
health,
commissioner
for
Philadelphia.
Thank
you
for
allowing
me
to
testify
on
bill
number
one.
Eight,
zero,
six,
nine
five,
which
was
sponsored
by
councilman
Heenan.
This
bill
would
require
that
retail
pharmacies,
stock,
naloxone
nasal
spray,
so
that
this
life-saving
treatment
is
more
widely
available.
We
are
supportive
of
this
bill
as
one
of
many
steps
needed
to
address
the
opioid
crisis
in
Philadelphia
as
I'm
sure
you
know.
C
In
2017,
over
1200
people
in
Philadelphia
died
of
drug
overdose
and
opioids
were
involved
in
nearly
90%
of
those
deaths.
Naloxone
which
is
sold
under
the
trade
name.
Narcan
is
a
medication
that
can
successfully
reverse
an
opioid
overdose
and
save
a
person's
life.
It
takes
no
special
expertise
or
training
to
save
a
life
with
naloxone.
Anyone
can
do
it.
One
of
the
many
actions
recommended
by
the
mayor's
task
force
to
come
at
the
opioid
epidemic
was
to
make
greater
use
of
this
medication
to
prevent
phase
drug
overdoses.
City
agencies
are
doing
that.
C
Philadelphia's,
emergency
medical
services,
teams
use
naloxone
extensively
and
Philadelphia
police
officers
carry
it
and
reverse
many
overdoses,
and
my
department
is
working
with
the
Department
of
Behavioral
Health
and
intellectual
disability
services
to
make
naloxone
more
available
to
the
friends
and
family
members
of
drug
users
and
to
encourage
those
people
to
carry
it
and
use
it.
Since
June
of
2017,
we
have
distributed
fifty
seven
thousand
doses
of
naloxone
to
people
in
a
position
that
treat
drug
overdose.
C
We
have
also
run
ads
on
billboards
and
through
social
media,
showing
people
exactly
how
to
use
naloxone
to
save
lives.
In
2015,
Pennsylvania,
physician
general
dr.
Rachel
Levine
signed
a
standing
order
that
allows
anyone
to
purchase
a
naloxone
from
a
pharmacy
without
a
prescription.
Unfortunately,
not
all
pharmacies
in
Philadelphia
are
stocking.
The
medication
in
the
fall
of
2016
researchers
from
the
University
of
Pennsylvania
found
that
only
forty
percent
of
pharmacies
it
contacted
had
naloxone
in
stock
zipcode
19130
for
an
area
with
the
greatest
overdose
threat
had
the
lowest
percentage
of
pharmacies
with
naloxone
in
stock.
C
Since
then,
the
number
of
pharmacies
stocking
naloxone
appears
to
have
increased.
However,
earlier
this
year,
our
department
called
over
200
pharmacies
and
found
that
nearly
25
percent
of
them
still
did
not
stock
the
medication.
There
are
over
400
pharmacies
in
Philadelphia,
meaning
that
more
than
100
do
not
have
naloxone
in
stock,
and
we
know
the
city
residents
are
having
difficulty
obtaining
naloxone,
because
community
members
continue
to
contact
our
office
after
not
being
able
to
get
it
from
their
pharmacy
bill
number
one,
eight,
zero.
C
Six,
nine
five
would
require
that
retail
pharmacies
keep
two
kits
of
naloxone
in
stock.
We'd
also
require
that
pharmacies
to
post
a
sign
indicating
that
naloxone
is
available
for
purchase.
We
do
not
think
the
stocking
requirement
places
much
burden
on
pharmacies,
especially
since
three-quarters
of
pharmacies
are
already
in
compliance
the
same
time.
We
believe
it
that
ensuring
that
every
pharmacy
in
Philadelphia
has
this
medication
available
will
encourage
more
people
to
purchase
and
use
naloxone,
and
that
has
the
potential
to
save
lives
that
we
are
currently
losing
to
drug
overdose.
C
A
You,
commissioner,
thank
you
for
this
information
and
the
idea
of
the
25%
of
the
pharmacies
here
in
Philadelphia
do
not
currently
stock.
This
medication
is
disturbing
that
you
would
have
think
in
a
city,
that's
known,
for
its
Ed's
in
med,
so
to
speak,
that
we
would
have
a
much
broader
level
of
coverage,
especially
in
the
areas
where
was
needed
in
the
one.
Nine
one,
three
four
zip
code
and
so
I'm
I
am
glad
to
see
that
that
is
something
that
the
Health
Department
is.
C
Yeah,
thank
you
so
opioids
are
there
many
different,
addictive
drugs
opioids
are
unique
in
that
they
can
cause
very
frequently
fatal
drug
overdose
and
that's
a
bad
side
of
them.
One
positive
side,
though,
is
that
there
is
this
drug
naloxone,
which
is
this
incredible
antidote
that
works
in
a
matter
of
seconds.
There
isn't
any
equivalent
for
cocaine
most
people,
it's
it's
rare
to
overdose
from
cocaine.
C
It
sometimes
happens
that
people
have
an
unusual
reaction
and
died
suddenly,
but
there's
no
specific
antidote
for
that,
so
there's
no
equivalent
other
drug
that
we
would
want
to
require
pharmacists
to
carry
for
cocaine
or
other
addictive
drugs.
So
for
the
other
addictive
drugs,
our
approach
has
to
boil
down
to
just
simply
making
all
forms
of
drug
treatment
more
widely
available
and
encouraging
more
people
to
take
advantage
of
that.
You
know
our
department
is
not
the
one
that
provides
drug
treatment
in
the
city.
C
That's
the
Department
of
Behavioral,
Health
and
intellectual
disability
services,
but
I
know
that
they're
working
hard
to
try
to
increase
the
accessibility
of
drug
treatment
and
and
I'm
hoping
hopeful
in
the
wake
of
the
opioid
crisis
that
that
really
benefits
people,
regardless
of
whatever
drug
that
they're
addicted.
To.
A
You
know
that
sort
of
threat
of
immediate
overdose
that
the
other
substances
do
not
have,
but
we
want
to
make
sure
that
we
can
try
to
draw
attention
to
the
overall
problem,
because
one
of
the
things
that
I'm
sure
that
you
know
is
that
you
know
you
may
start
out
on
one
drug
or
one
other
substance
and
gradually
work
your
way
into
an
opioid
or
a
heroin
situation.
So
if
we
can
kind
of
catch
people
before
they
get
to
that
point,
that
would
be
a
great
thing.
Yeah.
C
Well,
many
people
who
are
addicted
to
drugs
use
the
many
different
drugs
they're,
not
just
yes
together,
and
so
you
know
naloxone
to
deal
with
drug
dealing
with
just
one
little
piece
of
the
problem.
It's
a
little
stopgap
measure
to
try
to
keep
people
alive
long
enough
to
get
them
into
treatment.
It
doesn't
address
all
the
many
other
things
we
need
to
do
and
we
do
need
to
work
on
all
those
other
things
to
make
make
it
so
hard.
Less
likely.
C
A
It
would
be
a
great
thing
if
we
can
stop
the
number
of
overdose
deaths
here
in
the
city
and
that
we
can
get
folks
to
the
hospital
and
then
to
treatment
so
that
we
can
reverse
some
of
the
numbers
that
we're
seeing.
So.
Thank
you
very
much.
I
want
to
acknowledge.
Councilman
Blondo,
Reynolds
Brown
has
joined
us
and
also
councilman
Derrick
green
councilman.
Taco
burger
had
a
comment.
I
do.
D
C
Is
still
a
prescription
drug,
it
has
not
been
changed
by
the
FDA
to
be
known.
Over-The-Counter
drug,
however,
the
Pennsylvania
physician
general
has
written
a
standing
order,
so
anybody
can
purchase
it
without
a
prescription.
They
didn't
need
to
go
to
the
pharmacy
counter
within
the
pharmacy
and
say
I
want
to
purchase
an
oxen
and
the
pharmacist
can
dispense
the.
D
C
C
A
C
They're
gonna
charge
different
amounts
and
it
most
health
plans
are
going
to
pay
for
it
with
with
a
copay
that
copay
could
be
anywhere
from
$0
to
maybe
25
or
50
dollars.
So
we
obviously
prefer
to
have
very
little
copay.
The
actual
retail
price
for
a
kit,
which
has
two
doses
in
it
I
believe,
is
$150
typically,
so
that's
a
lot
of
money
for
most
people
to
pay,
but
thankfully
most
health
plans
are
going
to
pay
for
that
now.
Medicaid,
if
I'm
not
mistaken,
covers
it
with
no
pay.
No
copay,
okay,.
E
As
a
general
I
have
a
general
question,
given
this
crisis
that
is
facing
us
locally
and
nationally,
what
grade
would
you
give
Philadelphia
right
now
around
our
handling
of
the
opioid
crisis,
as
it
relates
to
item
1
collaboration
with
the
well?
You
can't
say
that
community,
because
there's
so
many
communities
are
being
impacted,
so
so
generally,
what
grade
would
you
give
us
compared
to
how
well
other
municipalities
are
doing
with
regards
to
this
crisis?
E
We
were
escorted
by
the
local
police
captain
there.
It
is
heart-rending
and
when
you
see
how
the
scale
of
this
problem
yeah
so
given
the
scale
of
it
and
the
fact
that
even
the
federal
government
is
trying
to
figure
out
how
to
handle
it.
What
grade?
Would
you
give
us
our
city
right
now,
stacked
against
other
situated
municipalities,
yeah.
C
Well
so
you're
right,
this
is
a
national
crisis,
upwards
of
70,000
people
dying
of
drug
overdose
in
a
single
year
in
the
United
States
as
a
whole.
Those
numbers
continue
to
rise,
so
I,
don't
know
that
there's
any
city
in
the
United
States
that
has
gotten
ahead
of
this
problem
and
say
that
they
have
solved
this
problem.
C
I,
don't
know
in
detail
what
other
cities
are
doing:
I'm
sure
that
there
are
other
cities
that
are
ahead
of
us
in
some
ways
and
there
are
other
places
where
we're
ahead
of
other
cities,
but
it's
clear
that
our
efforts
as
yet
are
not
big
enough
to
really
turn
this
problem
around.
We
have
the
numbers
of
people
who
are
becoming
addicted
and
are
addictive,
I
think
continues
to
rise.
C
I,
think
that
is
mainly
due
to
the
over
prescribing
of
prescription
painkillers,
secondarily
due
to
the
availability
of
fentanyl,
which
is
now
very
cheap
and
easy
to
get
in
the
street,
so
that
the
number
of
people
who
are
dependent
is
on
their
eyes
and
and
even
if
a
small
fraction
of
them
died
of
drug
overdose.
That's
a
lot
of
people,
so
I'm
not
sure
I
can
grade
us
other
than
to
say
that
we
are
definitely
not
ahead
of
this
problem.
There's
a
lot
more
work.
We
need
to
do.
C
Okay,
I
will
give
us
good
marks,
or
at
least
working
together
across
multiple
agencies
at
least
trying
to
grapple
with
the
problem.
I
think
that
the
the
current
emphasis
on
creating
an
emergency
declaration
to
get
all
the
agencies
in
the
same
room
together
is
a
one
additional
step
to
really
help
that
cooperation
work
is.
E
D
C
C
D
A
A
C
A
Been
moved
and
properly
seconded
that
bill
number
one:
eight,
zero,
six,
nine
five
be
reported
from
this
committee
with
a
favorable
recommendation
and
further
further
move
that
the
rules
of
council
be
suspend
to
permit
first
reading
at
the
of
this
bill
at
the
next
session
of
council.
All
of
those
in
favor
of
this
motion
will
signify
by
saying
aye
aye.
Anyone
opposed
okay,
the
eyes
have
it,
and
the
motion
carries
and
bill
number
one:
eight,
zero.
Six.
A
Ninety
five
will
be
reported
from
this
committee
with
a
favorable
recommendation,
with
a
request
that
the
rules
of
council
be
suspended
to
permit
first
reading
at
the
next
session
of
council.
This
concludes
the
public
health
public
meeting
of
the
Committee
on
Public
Health
and
Human
Services,
and
there
being
no
further
business
before
the
committee.
Thank
you
very
much
for
attending.