Ohio Senate Health & Human Services Committee
Proponent Testimony, House Bill 4
Rose Pavlakos, PharmD., Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice Resident
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
April 15, 2015
Chairwoman Jones, Vice Chairwoman Lehner, Ranking Member Tavares and members
of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, I appreciate you allowing me the
opportunity to provide testimony in support of House Bill 4 and to provide our community
with access to a harmless and potentially life saving medication. My name is Rose
Pavlakos and I am currently a licensed pharmacist in both the state of New Mexico and
Ohio. I currently reside and am practicing here at The Ohio State University College of
Pharmacy and OSU General Internal Medicine Clinic.
I would like to begin by sharing some personal experiences regarding legislation that
passed in New Mexico in 2002 allowing pharmacist prescriptive authority of Naloxone
through a specific protocol. A common misconception has been drawn with regards to
having a fear that by providing our patients with Naloxone, “we are allowing them to feel
more comfortable abusing opioids”. I can tell you from my experience, it is not the drug
dealers or heroin addicts themselves that are typically requesting these products, but
rather a mother, father, brother, sister, and other family members or friends that
approach us for help, in fear of losing a loved one to opioid or heroin overdose. I have
personally experience loved ones who have approached me in tears with sincere
gratitude for providing their family with a safety measure to keep in their home after a
loved one has either left drug addiction therapy and is at risk of relapse and overdose or
has been prescribed high doses of opioid for chronic pain.
As pharmacists, we are in a unique position in the healthcare field. Our patients have
reliable access to our services in the community setting, allowing them the opportunity to
discuss any healthcare need or medication related issue, at any time of day. Because of
this, we are able to build intimate relationships with our patients, placing us in a position
to identify patients who are at high risk of accidental drug overdose. We have access to
their medication records and are able to compare drug therapy options, making it easier
for us to have discussions with patients related to possible opioid overdose or abuse.
We have been highly trained to provide adequate education to our patients in order to
reduce potential harm with any of their medications.
Unlike many medications, intranasal Naloxone is extremely safe with minimal risk of side
effects. The most common side effect is related to the way the drug works, in that it
reverses the action of the opioid and can therefore put a patient into withdrawal. These
withdrawal symptoms may be severe, and for this reason we encourage our patients to
contact emergency medical services immediately following administration of Naloxone. If
a child or family member were to accidently use this medication without having taken an
opioid, the risks of side effects are low to none. Unless that person is allergic to the drug
itself, Naloxone would not be likely to cause any harm to that child or family member.
I would like to you to take a moment and imagine coming home from work and finding
your child unconscious. You suspect a drug overdose, you spray naloxone in each
nostril and they start breathing again. This is one of many ideal examples of how my
practice in New Mexico through the prescribing of Naloxone has made an impact in my
patient’s lives.
Pharmacists are in an ideal position to provide a safe health measure to the public and
do what is best for our patients to prevent harm. I strongly encourage you to support
House Bill 4 and future bills related to providing more dependable access of Naloxone to
our patients.
If you have any questions for me, I can be reached at pavlakos.2@osu.edu.