The Arizona Department of Education has begun distributing what will be more than 16,000 Narcan anti-overdose kits to schools throughout the state.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and members of STOP-IT (School Training Overdose Preparedness and Intelligence Taskforce) stood in front of pallets of the life-saving drug for a press conference Wednesday morning.
Horne said ADE received the shipment from the Arizona Department of Health Services on Nov. 1.
“Since that shipment arrived, my staff has been boxing and bagging these kits for distribution to schools located in every one of Arizona’s 15 counties," Horne said.
STOP-IT Co-chair Holly Geyer said along with sending Narcan to schools, they’ll be offering educational resources.
“That will teach our kids regardless of whether they’re at home learning or in a school environment on the basics of opioids, on the current status of the epidemic, on how to offer naloxone and what to do during an overdose," Geyer said
Geyer, who is an addiction medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, said last year, more than 180 kids had near-fatal overdoses. Between 2021 and 2022 Arizona lost 80 children to overdoses.
About 4,000 kits have gone out so far. ADE sent email blasts out to schools offering the kits. Schools that have not yet requested kits can do so by filling out a form on ADE’s website.
