SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Los Angeles Unified School District will soon allow students to carry Narcan — an anti-overdose drug — with them to class. Experts hope this could someday be the case in the Bay Area as well.
Narcan is a nose spray that can save a person's life if they are overdosing on opioids. This drug will now be allowed on LAUSD campuses in backpacks and in classrooms.
"When we're talking about opioid overdose, minutes really count, especially with fentanyl, which is now the leading drug involved in fatal overdose here in the U.S. and in California," said Chelsea Shover, an assistant professor in residence at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Shover told KCBS Radio the students could be saving their friends' lives before the school nurse would even have time to get to them. "We know that kids use drugs in places outside of school and also with their friends and so allowing them to have Narcan at school will increase the chances that they're going to have it with them at the time when they might be near an overdose," she explained.
Putting some parent's fears to rest, you cannot get high off of Narcan. "It's a medication that if you use it on yourself, you didn’t need it," Shover said.
Oakland Unified is finishing up training for teachers and staff to use Narcan on school property, but does not have plans to allow students to carry their own. The drugs are on campus in San Francisco, but only in nurses offices.
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