BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) — As Louisiana is experiencing an opioid crisis the President has signed senator John Kennedy’s Dump Opioid’s Act into law.
“One of the ways we can fight this crisis is by giving communities a safe way to get the opioids off the street,” said Senator John Kennedy.
The Dump Opioids Act allows people to use VA medical center drop boxes to disposes of unused opioid prescriptions. Locally east Baton Rouge parish is on pace to pass 2020’s fatal overdose count of 245 deaths.
“The Opioid crisis and you know this, it’s hit families in Louisiana and around the country, and it hits us every day,” said Kennedy.
From 2019-2020 overdose deaths in Louisiana jumped 50-75%, the largest increase in the country. Kennedy believes providing VA medical centers with approved drop boxes will assist in fewer people having the chance to start or feed an opioid addiction.
Beginning in 2022, certain VA medical centers will be approved to have drop boxes that veterans can use every day to drop off unused medications, and the Dump Opioids Act would make those drop boxes accessible to their entire communities
The Senate passed the act unanimously in April and the House passed it unanimously earlier this week.