Lawmakers consider allowing epinephrine pens without a prescription

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) - A Wisconsin Senate committee heard a proposal Wednesday to expand a law known as “Dillon’s Law.”

The original law passed in 2017, allowing anyone in the state with proper training to carry epinephrine injectors, which are used during severe allergic reactions.

You still need a prescription to get one, but this new legislation would let you pick one up from a pharmacy without needing that extra step.

Angel Mueller’s son, Dillon, from Mishicot, died nearly 8 years ago. He was stung by a bee when he was 18 and went into anaphylactic shock. No one knew he was allergic. “Nobody had an Epi Pen, not even the volunteer first responders,” Mueller recalled.

“With Dillon’s law 2.0,” Mueller testified, “folks can take our free training, which is only an hour, and take their certificate to the pharmacy with that standing order and have that epinephrine auto-injector -- or epinephrine, any FDA-approved -- given to them by the pharmacy that they can have in their first aid kit that day to save a life. Dillon did not have that opportunity.”

State Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) pushed for Dillon’s Law when he was in the Assembly. Now he’s the main author of the expansion bill.