Education Department wants more schools to have fentanyl overdose medication

More Arizona schools could soon stock overdose reversal medications to combat the growing fentanyl crisis, the Arizona Department of Education announced Tuesday.

A task force of educators, health care professionals and law enforcement officers will meet in the coming months to determine how to implement a new initiative to supply schools with naloxone, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

"The worst thing in the world would be to do nothing," Horne said. "We have to do everything we can because kids are dying."

There were more than 1,900 opioid overdose deaths in 2022, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. About 30 of those fatalities were in children under the age of 18.

"They could have been saved," Horne said.

Horne launches task force to get naloxone into more schools

The Education Department's task force — dubbed the School Training Overdose Preparedness and Intelligence Taskforce or STOPIT — will work through the logistics of stocking schools with naloxone, a nasal spray that rapidly reverses the effects of fentanyl and other opioid overdoses. It has not yet been determined who at each school will administer the medication in case of emergency or where that money will come from. 

The task force will work to get wholesale prices for naloxone, which could cut costs by "at least half" to about $25 per dose, Horne said. Schools could afford that price out of their own budgets, he said. 

Several organizations are already on board, including the Mayo Clinic and Terros Health, a healthcare company specializing in substance use treatment. 

"I have seen the toxicities of these drugs first hand. I have resuscitated people that are dying from fentanyl, and the numbers are growing," said Dr. Holly Geyer, an addiction medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. "They're happening in small ages, even juvenile — under high school age. There is a tremendous need to get education into our school systems." 

The task force will also explore messaging and education for students. 

Geyer said drug prevention programming should emphasize the potentially grave consequences of fentanyl use.

"Kids need to understand this is lethal. It is deadly, and there is no role, no opportunity for experimentation in 2024," Geyer said.

Younger generations look to social influencers, not doctors, Geyer said, and that might be part of the task force's campaign, identifying "groups or individuals that are in their world that can relay this message."

In the meantime, Horne said interactive online materials and accredited fentanyl education curriculum will be made available to students at no cost before summer dismissal, courtesy of the nonprofit Sold Out Youth Foundation. 

Some districts already have naloxone on hand for staff to administer

Some school districts have already taken steps to address the fentanyl crisis.

Phoenix Union High School District has stocked Narcan, a brand of naloxone, at all of its schools since 2018 and trained nurses, campus administrators, teachers, athletic trainers and members of the district's safety team on how to administer the overdose reversal medication.

The district also began hosting fentanyl awareness and prevention workshops this year. These workshops provide parents and guardians with free Narcan, test strips and Narcan training. Another workshop for parents and community members is planned for May 18 at Central High School.

The Tucson Unified School District also has Narcan in every school, and Mesa Public Schools has trained nurses in middle and high schools to administer Narcan and offered them a free supply. Narcan won't harm an individual who is not experiencing an overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 

Tolleson Union High School District has also held parent information sessions on opioids and provides opioid education for students in all of its health classes. Students also have access to one-on-one therapy through an agreement with behavioral health agencies.

Those efforts are a response to "what is recognized as a national and state epidemic" as opioid deaths continue to climb, said Misti Andrews, the district's student services coordinator.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office has seized nearly 22 million fentanyl pills in 16 months under Kris Mayes' administration, Mayes said. Her office seized enough fentanyl powder — about 175 pounds — to cause nearly 40 million potential lethal overdoses. That's enough to kill every Arizonan five times over. 

Her office wants to create a statewide fentanyl task force of its own, she said during a Tuesday press conference, and she's begun naming social media companies in drug trafficking indictments in an attempt to hold them accountable for the roles they play. 

"We know that platforms like Instagram are being used to sell or advertise these illicit drugs, and that is just not acceptable," Mayes said. "We are attempting to at least shame them for their involvement in this."

Stacey Barchenger contributed reporting.

Reach the reporters at nsullivan@gannett.com and mparrish@gannett.com.