White House Convenes City, County, and Private Sector Leaders to Discuss Saving Lives from Overdose

Organizations representing diverse sectors from across the country highlight their voluntary commitments to the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose

This week, White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Tom Perez, and Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta convened city, county, and private sector leaders from communities across the country that are being hit hard by the overdose crisis to discuss efforts to increase access to overdose reversal medications and save lives.

During the meeting, senior White House officials discussed the recently launched White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose, a nationwide call-to-action to stakeholders across all sectors to save lives by increasing training on and access to lifesaving opioid overdose reversal medications. The officials issued a renewed and urgent call-to-action to join the Challenge and help saturate their communities with lifesaving overdose reversal medications.

During the call, several organizations from across the country and representing a diverse range of sectors highlighted how they are stepping up to support the Challenge and save lives:

Sports

• Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that their emergency medical procedures now require that naloxone be stored in multiple locations (i.e., clubhouses, weight rooms, dugouts and umpire dressing rooms) at all Major League and Minor League ballparks. They also require all Certified Athletic Trainers to travel with naloxone when MLB teams travel on the road. They have committed to training their employees on naloxone and promoting overdose and naloxone awareness to MLB fans.

Entertainment and Night Life

• The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital announced that with the support of the ‘Quin Impact Fund and as a part of their ongoing injury prevention efforts, they have launched a new initiative to provide trainings on naloxone administration to hospitality groups across the city of Boston.

Schools

• Los Angeles Unified School District, America’s second largest school district, highlighted their commitment to having naloxone at all K-12 schools, early education centers, and adult education centers. School site and health care staff are trained on naloxone. Recently, District policy allows all students to carry naloxone at school. Since January 2023, the District has used naloxone approximately 50 times to save lives.

Transportation

• Chicago Department of Aviation highlighted their commitment to having naloxone available in Automated External Defibrillator (AED) cabinets at pre-security and post-security locations at O’Hare and Midway International Airports. There are 196 AED cabinets with naloxone at O’Hare and 32 at Midway. CDA has trained approximately 390 aviation security officers and airport-based Chicago Police Department officers on naloxone, and plans to offer training to more airport personnel in coming months.

Participants included:

• White House Domestic Policy Council Advisor Neera Tanden
• White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Tom Perez
• White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Dr. Rahul Gupta
• Major League Baseball Vice President of Drug, Health, and Safety Programs Jon Coyles
• Major League Baseball Expert Consultant on Behavioral Health and Addiction Dr. Larry Westreich
• Stepping Strong Center Injury Prevention Director Molly Jarman
• Stepping Strong Center Senior Program Manager Cheryl Lang
• Los Angeles Unified School District Chief Medical Director Dr. Smita Malhotra
• Chicago Department of Aviation Safety Management System Director Juan Martinez-Aviles
• Chicago Department of Aviation Director of Communications Kevin Bargnes

President Biden has made addressing the nation’s overdose crisis a top priority and a key pillar of his Unity Agenda for the nation. Under his leadership, the Biden-Harris Administration has made historic investments, taken bold action, and removed decades-long barriers to substance use disorder treatment and overdose reversal medications to save lives. The Administration has also cracked down on drug trafficking, strengthened global efforts to disrupt the illicit fentanyl supply chain, and held drug traffickers accountable. Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has invested a historic $167.2 billion in total drug control funding to address the overdose crisis– representing a 21 percent increase in funding compared to the previous administration.

Today, senior White House officials also convened U.S. drug manufacturers who have FDA-approved opioid overdose reversal medication products. Leaders discussed the importance of saturating communities and populations at high-risk of overdose with these lifesaving medications, and raising public awareness on the dangers of fentanyl.

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