ENROLLED
       2024 Legislature                             CS for CS for SB 66
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                               202466er
    1  
    2         An act relating to Revive Awareness Day; providing a
    3         short title; creating s. 683.3342, F.S.; designating
    4         June 6 of each year as “Revive Awareness Day”;
    5         authorizing the Governor to issue an annual
    6         proclamation; encouraging the Department of Health to
    7         hold events to raise awareness of the dangers of
    8         opioid overdose and the availability and safe use of
    9         opioid antagonists as an effective way to rapidly
   10         reverse the effects of opioid overdose; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12  
   13         WHEREAS, the opioid epidemic continues to ravage American
   14  families across the United States, and
   15         WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
   16  reported more than 100,000 overdose deaths in the United States
   17  during the 12-month period that ended in February 2023, and
   18         WHEREAS, most of these deaths were caused by illicit
   19  synthetic drugs like clandestinely manufactured fentanyl, often
   20  in combination with other drugs, and
   21         WHEREAS, in 2021, nearly 71,000 drug overdose deaths
   22  involving synthetic opioids occurred in the United States, which
   23  was more deaths that year than from any other type of opioid,
   24  and
   25         WHEREAS, synthetic-opioid-involved death rates increased by
   26  more than 22 percent from 2020 to 2021 and synthetic opioids
   27  accounted for nearly 88 percent of all opioid-involved deaths in
   28  2021, and
   29         WHEREAS, by comparison, from 1999 to 2021, nearly 280,000
   30  people died in the United States from overdoses involving
   31  prescription opioids, and
   32         WHEREAS, the number of drug overdose deaths involving
   33  prescription opioids in 2021 was nearly five times the number in
   34  1999, and
   35         WHEREAS, in 2021, an average of 45 people died each day
   36  from a prescription opioid overdose, for a total of nearly
   37  17,000 deaths, and
   38         WHEREAS, in 2021, nearly 21 percent of all opioid overdose
   39  deaths involved prescription opioids, and
   40         WHEREAS, 60 percent of all opioid overdose deaths occur in
   41  the home, and
   42         WHEREAS, in 67 percent of opioid overdose deaths, another
   43  person was present at the time and witnessed the death, and
   44         WHEREAS, opioid antagonists are a safe, powerful medication
   45  that can reverse opioid-related overdoses and prevent overdose
   46  deaths, and
   47         WHEREAS, in 2023, in a historic action, the United States
   48  Food and Drug Administration approved naloxone nasal spray as
   49  the first over-the-counter opioid antagonist, and
   50         WHEREAS, most Americans remain unaware of the safety,
   51  availability, and efficacy of opioid antagonists as a life
   52  saving treatment for opioid overdose, and
   53         WHEREAS, the national advocacy efforts of David Siegel and
   54  Jackie Siegel are recognized as they advocate for widespread
   55  availability of opioid antagonists through the Victoria’s Voice
   56  Foundation, named in honor of their daughter, who died from an
   57  accidental overdose, NOW, THEREFORE,
   58  
   59  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   60  
   61         Section 1. This act may be cited as “Victoria’s Law.”
   62         Section 2. Section 683.3342, Florida Statutes, is created
   63  to read:
   64         683.3342 Revive Awareness Day.—
   65         (1) June 6 of each year is designated as “Revive Awareness
   66  Day.”
   67         (2) The Governor may issue an annual proclamation
   68  designating June 6 as “Revive Awareness Day.”
   69         (3) The Department of Health is encouraged to hold events
   70  to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid overdose and the
   71  availability and safe use of opioid antagonists as an effective
   72  way to rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose.
   73         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.