May. 06, 2015
HARRISBURG – Last year, nearly seven Pennsylvanians died each and every day as the result of a drug overdose, according to a report compiled by the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association and unveiled today by Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Lower Paxton), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
According to the report, 2,489 people died of drug-related causes during the 2014 calendar year. In many counties, this amounted to a 20 percent increase in drug-related deaths when compared to the prior year.
“The number of drug-related deaths in the Commonwealth is frightening, and we must do more to stop this paralyzing epidemic now,” Marsico said. “There is no higher priority than the lives of Pennsylvania citizens.”
Marsico was joined in unveiling the report by fellow lawmakers; Susan Shanaman of the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association; Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick; Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski; Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim; York County Coroner Pam Gay; and Cumberland County Coroner Charles Hall.
The House Judiciary Committee, under Marsico’s lead, has held a number of hearings across the Commonwealth regarding the drug problem, particularly the growing problem of prescription drug abuse that all too often leads to heroin abuse. The committee has found the epidemic does not leave any gender, age group or race untouched, nor does it discriminate by geography, as the problem is growing in rural communities, inner cities and everything in between.
Recognizing the severity of the problem, the General Assembly has recently enacted several laws designed to help counter the rise in drug-related deaths, including:
• Act 191 of 2014 which creates a prescription drug monitoring program within the Pennsylvania Department of Health in an effort to address prescription drug abuse.
• Act 139 of 2014, which Provides immunity from prosecution on minor drug-related offenses to someone who reports a drug overdose and makes the potentially life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, naloxone, available to emergency services personnel, law enforcement and even family or friends of someone who is at risk of an opioid overdose.
• Act 53 of 2013, which requires the tracking of sales of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine through the use of an electronic system that monitors sales in real time to prevent purchases from exceeding legal limits.
• Act 40 of 2013, which aims to keep state laws up-to-date with the constantly changing compounds used to create “bath salts” and synthetic marijuana.
“The laws in place in Pennsylvania to punish and deter dealing heroin and other illegal drugs are already among the toughest in the nation, and I call upon our law enforcement to use those laws to their greatest extent,” Marsico said. “But I also pledge this: If our police or prosecutors need more tools, I will work to provide them. If they need tougher laws, I will toughen them. If they need more resources to fight this epidemic, I will advocate for them.”
Representative Ronald Marsico
105th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Autumn R. Southard
717.652.3721
asouthar@pahousegop.com
RonMarsico.com