IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlawec/doi10.1086-700703.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

With a Little Help from My Friends: The Effects of Good Samaritan and Naloxone Access Laws on Opioid-Related Deaths

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel I. Rees
  • Joseph J. Sabia
  • Laura M. Argys
  • Dhaval Dave
  • Joshua Latshaw

Abstract

In an effort to address the opioid epidemic, a majority of states recently passed some version of a Good Samaritan law (GSL) and/or a naloxone access law (NAL). Good Samaritan laws provide immunity from prosecution for drug possession to anyone who seeks medical assistance in the event of a drug overdose; NALs allow laypersons to administer naloxone, which temporarily counteracts the effects of an opioid overdose. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System multiple-cause-of-death mortality files for 1999-2014, this study is the first to examine the effects of these laws on overdose deaths involving opioids. The estimated effects of GSLs on opioid-related mortality are consistently negative but not statistically significant. Adoption of an NAL is associated with a statistically significant 9-10 percent reduction in opioid-related mortality, although the negative association between NALs and opioid-related mortality appears to be driven by early adopters--states that passed legislation before 2011.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel I. Rees & Joseph J. Sabia & Laura M. Argys & Dhaval Dave & Joshua Latshaw, 2019. "With a Little Help from My Friends: The Effects of Good Samaritan and Naloxone Access Laws on Opioid-Related Deaths," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(1), pages 1-27.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/700703
    DOI: 10.1086/700703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/700703
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/700703
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/700703?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Baumgart-McFarland, Madison & Chiarello, Elizabeth & Slay, Tayla, 2022. "Reluctant Saviors: Professional ambivalence, cultural imaginaries, and deservingness construction in naloxone provision," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    2. Abouk, Rahi & Powell, David, 2021. "Can electronic prescribing mandates reduce opioid-related overdoses?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    3. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Dean Li & Heidi L. Williams, 2022. "What Drives Risky Prescription Opioid Use? Evidence from Migration," NBER Working Papers 30471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Lleras-Muney, Adriana & Price, Joseph & Yue, Dahai, 2022. "The association between educational attainment and longevity using individual-level data from the 1940 census," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    5. Cotti, Chad D. & Gordanier, John M. & Ozturk, Orgul D., 2020. "The relationship of opioid prescriptions and the educational performance of children," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    6. Eichmeyer, Sarah & Zhang, Jonathan, 2023. "Primary care providers’ influence on opioid use and its adverse consequences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/700703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JLE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.