The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced this week that it will make Narcan available at all its campuses by mid-October in response to recent fentanyl overdoses by students. Doses of the anti-overdose medication will also be provided to all LAUSD School Police officers.
According to Fox 11 Los Angeles, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the school district is experiencing a “devastating epidemic” of drug overdoses. Reportedly, police confirmed this week the seventh overdose of a student from pills believed to have contained fentanyl.
“Whether we talk about fentanyl or the many variations of fentanyl, there is an abundance of drugs that students are having ready access to," Carvalho said. "Effective the second week of October, every one of our schools at L.A. Unified will be outfitted with the appropriate tools, including Narcan available for students who may experience a condition of overdose through the consumption, the ingestion of fentanyl in any type of format."
Carvalho added that the school district wants to "effectively respond” to the crisis as well as prevent it. The school district will launch a district-wide education campaign to teach students about the dangers of fentanyl use.
In addition, the district will unveil a task force to work with school police officers and local law enforcement to heighten supervision in areas, such as parks, where students are “believed” to be obtaining drugs.
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"The opioid epidemic is a community crisis, and today Los Angeles Unified is taking concrete action to protect our students -- both by making naloxone readily available and through proactive education and support," LAUSD board President Kelly Gonez said in a statement. "Our board and superintendent are committed to doing everything we can to ensure student safety on our campuses and in our communities."
On Sept. 15, Fox 11 reported that a 15-year-old girl named Melanie Ramos, a LAUSD student, died after collapsing from fentanyl poisoning. Ramos managed to tell her stepfather “in a fragile state” that she took “half a pill” she bought at a nearby park.
Fox 11 noted that Narcan, if administered quickly enough, can counteract the effects of a drug overdose. The treatment is temporary, but the design allows first-responders to arrive and begin administering treatment to save the person experiencing the overdose.
Townhall covered Sept. 12 how a California middle schooler was arrested after bringing 150 fentanyl pills to school disguised as Percocet. The student’s pills caused a campus supervisor to overdose.
The supervisor came into contact with the drug when they searched the student’s belongings after the student was involved in an altercation with another student at school. Police were en route to the school as the overdose occurred. Police who arrived on the scene saved the supervisor’s life with Narcan.
Julio reported this week how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, announced that he designated several Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations for their role in smuggling fentanyl pills and fentanyl-laced drugs into the United States. The Washington Post reported this month that heroin overdoses are “vanishing” due to a “near-total replacement” of fentanyl.
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