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Lawmakers in Columbus unanimously passed a bill that expands the use of the heroin overdose antidote Naloxone, allowing first responders, friends and family members of addicts to carry it. The bill awaits Gov. John Kasich's signature.

(Ohio Statehouse Photo Archive/Ohio Channel)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State legislators this week voted to lift restrictions that kept a life-saving heroin overdose antidote out of the hands of some of the people in the best position use it.

The Ohio Senate unanimously approved House Bill 170, which allows friends and family of addicts as well as first responders to carry doses of naloxone, the drug that can completely reverse an overdose in seconds.

State law previously allowed only advanced paramedics to carry the drug, and doctors could only prescribe it to people who were addicted to opiates -- not friends or family members that may be in the position to actually administer the drug to someone during an overdose.

Now, departments around the state will have the option to train police officers, firefighters and basic paramedics to carry a dose of the drug, in the form of a nasal spray.

Joan Papp, an emergency physician at MetroHealth Medical Center who also runs Cuyahoga County's Project DAWN and prescribes naloxone kits to addicts for free, said the bill frees her up to potentially save more lives.

"It's huge," she said.

Papp said she's had to turn down parents, siblings, roommates and friends of addicts who wanted naloxone, which has no affect on someone who is not experiencing an overdose. She is now seeking funding to hire a nurse practitioner for Project DAWN, which stands for Deaths Avoided With Naloxone, which could allow her to write prescriptions five days a week instead of one.

The bill was first introduced in the House of Representatives in May, where it passed with unanimous support in October and was sent to the Senate. It gained little traction there until officers in Lorain County started saving lives as part of a one-year pilot program that took affect Oct. 12.

Sen. Gayle Manning, a North Ridgeville Republican who pushed for the pilot, said it didn't take a year to see the effects.

"In the four months since the pilot went into effect, it's saved 25 lives in Lorain County," Manning said. With those results in mind, experts -- including Papp -- put repeated pressure on lawmakers to act on the bill.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steve Dettelbach, whose office formed a comprehensive action plan to tackle the region's heroin epidemic, lauded the bill's passage.

“Making naloxone available to first responders and at-risk families will save lives in Ohio," Dettelbach said through a spokesman. "We will continue to work together on increasing education, treatment and enforcement."

The bill is currently sitting on Gov. John Kasich's desk, waiting to be signed into law, just days before Project DAWN's one-year anniversary on March 1.

"It's kind of symbolic, isn't it?" Papp asked. "We've got all our registration forms updated. We're ready to start as soon as he signs it."

Free naloxone kits are available every Friday at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 5550 Venture Drive in Parma, from 9 a.m. to noon; and the Free Medical Cleveland of Greater Cleveland, 12201 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, from 1-5 p.m.