Del. bill could apply current concept to new area

A Senate Bill in the works may expand on how the state examines drug overdoses.

SB 174, if passed, would create a Drug Overdose Fatality Review Commission. The commission would review the circumstances surrounding the deaths caused by drug overdoses and would then make preventative recommendations to state lawmakers based on their findings.

Delaware already has similar commissions to review child deaths and domestic abuse victim deaths.

Senator Ernie Lopez told 47 ABC, “we felt it appropriate, in that the heroin epidemic is increasing statewide that we were able to form a commission that’s able to thoughtfully gather this information and share it, not just with us legislators, but with other agencies and other departments in which can address the problem. That’s why we wanted to move forward, quickly, on this,”

The bill is currently out of committee and has yet to be voted on in the house.