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They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

All hail the time of the bunny!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

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When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Giving up is unforgivable.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

You are here: Home / Politics / A Good Bill

A Good Bill

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The WV legislature has taken time off from removing mining safety regulations, attacking unions and wage earners, rolling back and blocking regulation of our waterways, and generally being a menace to society to do something that might actually do some good:

A life-saving medication that reverses the effects of heroin and prescription pain-pill overdoses could soon be in the hands of addicts across West Virginia.

The House of Delegates unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that aims to curb West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate — now the highest in the nation.

The legislation allows doctors to prescribe naloxone — also known under the brand name Narcan — to drug users, and their family members, caregivers and friends. The same people also will be allowed to legally administer the medication for the first time.

“In many cases, minutes matter,” said Delegate John Shott, R-Mercer. “This bill will save lives.”

The Senate passed the bill last month, so it next heads to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who’s expected to sign it into law. Tomblin proposed the legislation in his State of the State address.

“It’s vital that West Virginia maintains not only a skilled but a drug-free workforce,” said Tomblin spokesman Chris Stadelman in an email. “This legislation will help provide the opportunity for people to rebuild their lives and, if they choose, become productive members of their communities.”

Now, only paramedics, doctors and nurses can administer naloxone to people who overdose on heroin and prescription drugs. The bill also allows police and firefighters to administer the medication.

This is a good thing, and I am pleasantly surprised that some wingnut did not suggest that this would make people more likely to overdose (that’s the reich wing logic opposing birth control and cervical cancer vaccines- it will make the sluts more likely to screw). I guess ALEC forgot to send the memo.

At any rate, this should be the law of the land in every state.

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    Seems like the US House has okayed the XL pipeline and will send the idiotic measure to the president for his veto.

  6. 6.

    RSA

    I am pleasantly surprised that some wingnut did not suggest that this would make people more likely to overdose

    Uh, yeah! “Those people” should be punished, right? Saving their lives is just coddling them.

  8. 8.

    Crusty Dem

    More naloxone availability is good. More controls on prescription opioids would be better. Opioid overdose kills ~16,000 each year, 3/4 from prescription drugs..

  10. 10.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    Good on them. You also have one of the best childhood vaccination laws in the country.

  14. 14.

    jl

    Congrats to WV. Good to hear. Brown signed a similar bill in September that allows proviison of naxalone at California pharmacies upon request.

    Together, WV and CA brave the progressive vanguard! (and any other states that are doing similar).

    Now we need to persuade Jerry Brown, who has been referred to here at BJ blog as an ex-hippy, to stop worrying about the whole population of CA turning into chronic and extreme dope fiends if we legalize pot. He recently said he is afraid the whole state will bliss out on dope and not show up at work, or some such BS. Some hippy he is. Brown sounds like an old geezer with onions in his belt yelling at clouds when he talks like that.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @raven:

    I don’t understand his tell-all book. Why do Democrats feel the need to do that? Say what you want about Dick Cheney, you don’t see him going around admitting that they misled American into the Iraq War.

  16. 16.

    jl

    @Baud: Are you saying that Democrats do that more than GOPers? I’m not sure about that. I’ve always thought it was about media appearance $$$$: a tell-all gives the author more insider cred, and media outlets get more ‘access’ cred for booking them onto random segments on random stuff when some producer thinks it would look nice to have an insider babble on about nothing.

  17. 17.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Ron Thompson: I don’t think he was wrong about the problems of memory. I don’t recall John making predictions about how the media and NBC would react, just stating that calling him a “liar” over that incident was pretty misguided.

    NBC claims he made misstatements over other things, too. They didn’t say what.

    The claims about Katrina if untrue are disturbing but others have confirmed 3 feet of water outside the hotel with photos of boats and other sources state they saw bodies in the water only a few blocks away. You know why the wingers jumped to Katrina, they have a deep need to peddle Katrina TR00F, much like Holocaust deniers.

  19. 19.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Baud: Dems don’t get punished for not being an ideologue, whereas the GOP side is all about the purity tests and burning the witches.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    @John Cole +0: Watched the intro to NBC Nightly News this evening. They’ve removed the “with Brian Williams” part and the old voiceover. Now the voice just says “NBC Nightly News. Reporting tonight, Lester Holt.” They’ve removed the “with Brian Williams” part from the graphic as well.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    @jl:

    Are you saying that Democrats do that more than GOPers?

    Talk about internal political machinations that every high-level politician goes through. Yeah, it seems like they do.

  22. 22.

    jl

    @Ron Thompson:

    ” Any comments on Brian Williams, John? Sure seems like you were dead wrong on that one. ”

    I don’t think we really know. I saw some troops claiming that Williams was telling the same story right after the incident, and they very emphatically set him straight on the events. And also called him an idiot. Seems like an ace reporter like Williams should remember that. But those are just claims, as far as I know.

    I don’t think we know whether Williams is consciously lying or not. I personally think it means Williams is a bad and unreliable reporter, since getting stories straight was his paid job and only reason for being there. But, then, by those standards, half of the news actors pretending to be journalists on the TV and radio would be forced off the air. So then Williams’ treatment brings up double standard issues.

  26. 26.

    greennotGreen

    The WV legislature has taken time off from removing mining safety regulations, attacking unions and wage earners, rolling back and blocking regulation of our waterways, and generally being a menace to society

    The provision of naxolone is self-serving. The members of the WV legislature couldn’t be doing all the bad stuff John mentioned if they were high on some serious shit.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    @raven:

    Right. I’m not sure what Obama was thinking either, assuming he had a chance to preview the book. I understand if it’s a few years after the term is over, but why right now?

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    @jl:

    Now we need to persuade Jerry Brown, who has been referred to here at BJ blog as an ex-hippy, to stop worrying about the whole population of CA turning into chronic and extreme dope fiends if we legalize pot.

    I guess projection is not limited to the right wing.

  29. 29.

    jl

    @Baud: Weren’t there a number of similar books on Bush II? Maybe they didn’t make as much impact, since so much of his abject disastrous failure, incompetence, malfeasance and hypocrisy were all public knowledge by the last two years of his administration.

  31. 31.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Crusty Dem:

    More controls on prescription opioids would be better. Opioid overdose kills ~16,000 each year, 3/4 from prescription drugs..

    Better use of opioids is needed, not more control which is just pushing more people back into the illegal market and all its ills.

    Better use would mean for one thing pharm companies not direct marketing to doctors in the ways that they do. No more steak dinners for doctors w/ prof dev points. They should be completely banned from paying for meals, period, and they really shouldn’t count marketing as prof dev points but that’s the fault of the state medical boards for being lazy corrupt bags of mostly water.

    But, I responded for this reason, that other issue aside, more use of medical marijuana rather than use of opioids for certain pain patients would probably seriously reduce harmful incidence of painkiller addiction. Marijuana, for one damn thing, doesn’t cause this additional pain when you use it too long that makes you have to increase the dose to dangerous levels, which is exactly what long term opioid usage does. It’s also much better for cancer patients because of its psychoactive effects; improving appetite is the most obvious, concrete, and desirable effect. Opiates otoh fuck with your brain/system into needing a maintenance dose and if you don’t get it your brain kind of goes nuts and you’ll do any horrible thing to get some, which is very undesirable.

    If using marijuana even reduced the dosage required of other painkillers for patients with serious pain conditions that would reduce the harms.

  34. 34.

    raven

    @Baud: I don’t think it means shit. The wingnuts just go from one thing to the next anyway. I think the phrase I’m looking for it “it don’t mean nuthin”.

  36. 36.

    khead

    You also have one of the best childhood vaccination laws in the country.

    I’ve seen this little factoid a lot today. The high vaccination rate is a product of good government from a long ago era. You know, the 60’s – when hillbillies were more scared of polio and smallpox than the GUBMINT.

    I have $50 that says some WV House wingnut is writing a religious freedom exemption bill right now in response to the publicity WV is getting today for NOT having one.

  37. 37.

    jl

    @raven: Wasn’t saying “it don’t mean nuthin” considered a sign of PSTD level mental trauma?
    If so, I can see what you’re saying.

  38. 38.

    Another Holocene Human

    I know some people say opiates aren’t addictive, they’re habit forming or whatever because they eff with your equilibrium state or whatever its called in biology, and it’s cocaine or nicotine or alcohol that’s addictive although 2 and 3 also fuck with your homeostasis. But 99% of the negatives of addiction are because of the shit that opiates do to you, whether it’s the blot out the world euphoria that very unhappy people crave or the crazytown clusterfuck of missing a dose and what horrible creatures human beings in this state become. Distinction without a difference. What is addiction? You won’t get a straight answer.

  39. 39.

    Pogonip

    Hey, while we wait for a pupdate, let’s talk about Ukraine!

    (We hope this awful possibility will get Cole to put up a pupdate pronto.)

  41. 41.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” The only ones I can recall were from insiders who left on bad terms. ”

    That is loaded comparison between Bush II and Obama. That would be almost all of them who left, for Bush II.

  44. 44.

    Baud

    @jl:

    Regardless of how many it was, the point is, I don’t know why a close and continuing supporter of the president would believe that this type of book would be a good thing to do.

  45. 45.

    Ron Thompson

    @John Cole +0:
    “I think it was all bullshit.”
    Well, it’s hard to argue with such an intricate and subtle argument as that one, John. Perhaps you will elucidate further in a post on the subject. His employers sure don’t seem to think it was all bullshit.

  47. 47.

    srv

    Well, this undoes all the BJ indoctrination I’ve been fed. Why would sociopath Republicans care about drug addicts? Isn’t better they OD and get off the welfare dole?

  49. 49.

    Central Planning

    There are a couple wingnuts at the local gym that are against the county sheriffs being able to give naloxone to people who might have overdosed… we’re not doctors, we don’t know if it’s heroin, we will be liable, blah blah blah. They are against anything that will help “them”.

  50. 50.

    Another Holocene Human

    @raven: ten years later. I’m with Cole.

    His problem is he doesn’t have a mind like a steel trap and doesn’t go back to check on his original notes (as many journalists do to refresh their memory). And JS was obliquely referring in his bit to the way Williams was trying to transition to entertainment media which may be where the hubris was setting in. (The idea of the incredibly stiff Brian Williams trying to do comedy hosting is almost unbelievable, but yeah, he did the rounds, didn’t he? Crazy.)

  51. 51.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Central Planning: shit I was reading too fast and thought you were talking about county sheriff’s deputies whining about liability and I was thinking that sounds about right, anything to help homeless, drug addicts, and the dusky-hued results in the cops’ hue and cry about liability whinge whinge let’s discuss fever brained outside chance as if that will be direct consequence of acting like human beings

  53. 53.

    Pogonip

    @jl: I’m a lot more aware of dementia than I used to be. One of the symptoms is confabulation. I hope Williams has been checked for early-onset dementia.

  54. 54.

    Another Holocene Human

    @jl: It does occur to me that I can’t imagine Megyn Kelly making a mistake like that. Being mendacious in the service of Kochs, sure. But just screwing stuff up like that and being sloppy? No.

    White male privilege?

    It is too cute when the right wing talks about lies. They never get punished for their deliberate lies like that South African and her BENGHAZI!!!! film on CBS. But sloppy is, well, sloppy.

  56. 56.

    raven

    Johnson reported to General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. Johnson and two Army officers went to the 22nd Bomb Group base, which was assigned the high risk mission of bombing the Japanese airbase at Lae in New Guinea. A colonel took Johnson’s allocated seat on one bomber, and it was shot down with no survivors. Reports vary on what happened to the B-26 Marauder carrying Johnson. He said it was also attacked by Japanese fighters but survived, while others, including other members of the flight crew, claim it turned back because of generator trouble before reaching the objective and before encountering enemy aircraft and never came under fire; this is supported by official flight records.[25] Other airplanes that continued to the target did come under fire near the target at about the same time that Johnson’s plane was recorded as having landed back at the original airbase. MacArthur awarded Johnson the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest medal

  59. 59.

    Laertes

    “It’s vital that West Virginia maintains not only a skilled but a drug-free workforce”

    That kind of language creeps me out. Saw some of that just the other day in a story about some Walker thing in Wisconsin.

    Specifically, what creeps me out is the aversion to describing citizens as citizens. Instead they’re always “consumers” or “workers” or whatever. It goes to who the government thinks it serves.

    If your vision of government is that it’s of the people, by the people, for the people, then you’re going to use words like “citizen” a lot, because a citizen is someone who’s entitled to the protection of the state. They’re the boss. People who say “citizen” a lot think that government primarily exists to serve citizens.

    There’s another vision–one in which the primary role of government is to serve moneyed interests. Adherents to this vision don’t like the c word, because they deny the fact that government exists to serve citizens. Instead, they prefer to view people from the perspective of managers of corporations, and therefore they’ll see either “workers” or “consumers,” that is, as either labor-producing units or revenue-producing units.

    That sentence is creepy because the person who said it literally can’t imagine that the government of West Virginia might be at all interested in improving the health of its citizens, except insofar as doing so is convenient for employers.

  62. 62.

    jl

    @Another Holocene Human: Ever since I heard Williams’ talk about being a Limbaugh fan in order to keep tabs on the thoughts of supposed millions of reactionary delusional bigoted loons wandering in some American wilderness and internal exile, I have figured one of two things:

    Williams is a reactionary fool
    Williams is a BS artist who says things that he thinks will boost his popularity and career, and an ignorant one who believes whatever BS is pumped out by the corporate media pundits

    Whichever he is, or maybe both, these kinds of people easily confuse fantasy and reality, and are not overly careful about the truth, and shoot their mouths off without thinking. And that, is a charitable summary of the Williams flap that got him suspended.

  63. 63.

    Pogonip

    @Laertes: I’ve been saying for years that I’d like to be a citizen rather than a consumer. Why didn’t they call that agency Warren prompted the Citizens’ Protection Bureau?

  64. 64.

    Elmo

    @Another Holocene Human:
    My wife has neuro issues that cause chronic neuropathic pain, and she has given up on opioids because of the scrutiny and stigma. Beyond anything else, she both hates and is terrified of even coming close to the label “drug seeker,” because her pain is so unremitting and difficult to control.

    It’s horrible. Her life is more and more circumscribed because of the pain she’s in, and any serious effort to control it is out of the question.

    I hate drug warriors with the fury of Thor.

  65. 65.

    Mike in NC

    @jl: Dan Rather got torpedoed by trying to investigate Dubya’s lackluster service in the Air National Guard, so Brian Williams ought to be held accountable for lying about getting shot down in Iraq and being robbed at gunpoint in NJ.

  66. 66.

    Pogonip

    @Elmo: Yes, I’m afraid we’re heading back to the bad old days when doctors wouldn’t give terminal cancer patients the needed amount of opiates because they might become addicted!

    Seems like if you’re going to be dead in a month or two, any addiction you might develop will soon cure itself.

    My sympathies to your wife.

  67. 67.

    Buddy H

    @Elmo: I always thought that instead of burning down poppy fields in the Middle East and losing the hearts and minds of the farmers, why couldn’t we pay them for their product for chronic pain sufferers here and palliative care? I mean, rather than going into their countries and burning down their crops?

  68. 68.

    Laertes

    @Baud:

    Sure she does. I’d expect she says “consumer” a lot because she’s focused in large part on banks preying upon their customers. The CFPB is focused specifically at protecting people in their role as consumers.

    This WV bill Nalxone bill, though? Why is that framed as protecting WV’s “workforce” rather than protecting WV’s “citizens?” Is it intended to only help the employed? That’s just weird.

  69. 69.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @raven:

    MacArthur awarded Johnson the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest medal

    It’s hard to decide who to loathe more in that whole episode. Generals out of their depth as politicians or politicians out of their depth as soldiers.

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Mike in NC:

    “lying about… being robbed at gunpoint in NJ.”

    Do tell…

    I honestly do not know whether Williams’ statements about the helicopter episode are conscious lies or not. But as I have indicated, he is supposed to be a reporter, and his statements make him a bad reporter, so he should go, along with most other corporate media news actors and political operatives pretending to be journalists.

    But if is there is evidence he is knowing liar, I am keeping a very open mind.

  71. 71.

    Pogonip

    @Elmo: P.S. whatever you do, don’t read blogs by emergency room personnel. They’re a mean bunch. To them everyone is a drug seeker. I hope the ones who don’t blog aren’t as mean.

  72. 72.

    Elmo

    @Pogonip:
    From my experience, they definitely are. But I’m definitely prejudiced. Some days I hate the entire medical profession.

    Thanks for the kind thoughts.

  74. 74.

    greennotGreen

    @Pogonip: I suspect the ones who don’t blog aren’t as mean. HIPAA and all that. Some medical personnel actually care about their patients’ privacy.

  75. 75.

    Mike J

    @raven:

    I think we are getting the cherry picked shit that make Obama look bad right now.

    I saw a hed somewhere complaining that Obama was “disrespectful” to Maureen Dowd.

    I’m ready to take to the streets to have him appointed god king for life.

  76. 76.

    Buddy H

    @jl: From what I understand, Tom Brokaw had something to do with Brian’s suspension.
    Brian Williams was damaging their brand.

  77. 77.

    Elmo

    @Buddy H:

    Brian Williams was damaging their brand.

    HAHAHAHAHAHA, oh good one! ::wiping tears::
    ::still chuckling::
    Wait.
    You’re serious?

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    @Elmo:
    @Buddy H:

    Yeah, NBC has fallen very far. Warmongering, infotainment, and the Today show is such crap. Malia or Sasha has scoffed at their “Director of Politics.” Mrs. Greenspan and other Very Serious Pimpsters.

    Brian Williams is one of the less objectionable parts of the brand.

    That said, I do like Lester Holt.

  81. 81.

    TriassicSands

    @Another Holocene Human:

    From reading your comments, I’d say it’s pretty clear you don’t understand what addiction is. Therefore, your prescriptions for the control and use of opioids are unlikely to be helpful.

  82. 82.

    Pogonip

    @Elmo: Read Dr. Grumpy. He’s a neurologist and a good man; it comes through in his writing. He’s also laugh-out-loud funny.

  83. 83.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Elmo: Would gabapentin be of possible use for the neuropathy? Or is it contraindicated by other meds or renal issues? I know some docs who have an opinion that opiates are often prescribed in such a fashion that they are not especially effective for pain.

  85. 85.

    schrodinger's cat

    Who watched network news? I haven’t watched it in years and years. If I am home, I will turn on the Snooze Hour or BBC World News. I get most of my news either from Balloon Juice or NYT online.

  87. 87.

    sm*t cl*de

    More naloxone availability is good

    Why would anyone control the stuff? Not like it has abuse potential, and side-effects seem to be less than coffee.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    The opiate addiction problem in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky can be traced to one drug company: Purdue Pharma.

    States and counties are suing the company based on their deceptive practices. Drug makers flooded these states with promotions for pain meds. In Ohio, the rate of use went up 9X over 5 years. People here get addicted to the prescription drugs and when they can no longer get those, they turn to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to get.

    People can work while taking the drugs (illegal or legal) and the highest rate of use is with people who work where they’re likely to get hurt or hurt someone else if they’re high- trucking and manufacturing is where the workplace injuries are happening. They CAN work on it. I interview them in my job.

    It’s taken a real toll in this county. I see two generations in one family addicted, stuff like that. They’re losing their kids and going in and out of jail and prison.

    In sweeping language reminiscent of the legal attack against the tobacco industry, the lawsuit alleges the drug companies have reaped blockbuster profits by manipulating doctors into believing the benefits of narcotic painkillers outweighed the risks, despite “a wealth of scientific evidence to the contrary.” The effort “opened the floodgates” for such drugs and “the result has been catastrophic,” the lawsuit contends.

    It’s heartbreaking to watch, and it came about because of greed and a complete lack of ethics in the drug industry.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    Here’s more on the pharma lawsuits:

    And nowhere is the pill problem more prevalent than in Kentucky’s Appalachians, where officials trace its roots to the aggressive marketing of one potent drug: OxyContin.
    For seven years, they’ve forged ahead with a civil lawsuit that seeks to make drugmaker Purdue Pharma pay. As early as next year, it could bring the first-ever jury trial pitting Purdue against an addiction-plagued state over the painkiller, which experts say may lead more communities to file suits. Chicago and two California counties already have.
    “This is about holding them accountable,” says Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. “They played a pre-eminent role in the state’s drug problem. This started to explode in the mid-1990s, when Purdue Pharma was marketing OxyContin. The resulting opiate epidemic … is a direct result.”
    The suit alleges that an aggressive and deceptive marketing campaign misled doctors, consumers and the government about OxyContin’s addiction risk, ultimately saddling taxpayers with millions of dollars in social, health care and other costs.

    Jack Conway ran against Rand Paul. Someone should ask Rand Paul if he thinks the drugmaker should reimburse states for the huge publicly-funded costs associated with their deceptive marketing campaign. I hope they made a lot of money. We’re all paying for it.

  90. 90.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I wonder if any of you actually know a person addicted to opiates.

    After having been through that dance for eight years with an ex-girlfriend, I’m pretty much of the school of thought that the kindest thing you could for them, those who love them, and society, is let them die.

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