CLEVELAND, Texas – The lifesaving drug Naloxone used to reverse opioid overdoses, was handed out at Santa Fe Middle School during a Cleveland ISD town hall meeting. The meeting addressed the realities of fentanyl use.
This comes as the CDC reported the problem has reached a peak.
At Santa Fe Middle School in Cleveland ISD, the auditorium was lined with several dozen photos and bios of teenagers and young adults, some as young as 14 years old who died from overdoses.
“I didn’t think it was happening in our community like that,” said one mother who believes the statistics are alarming.
“Just in a few weeks of school starting, we’ve had several students who have overdosed on what we think to be fentanyl but we’re waiting on the results to come back from the lab,” said Assistant Superintendent Rebecca Sanford, Ed.D
The CDC reports that fentanyl is now the number one leading cause of death for people between the ages of 18 and 45 in the United States.
“We’ve had to use Narcan, the life-saving drug four times here in the district, two of those students we actually had to use it twice,” Sanford said.
It’s part of the reason school district officials say they’re taking swift action to prevent fentanyl overdose deaths.
“Fentanyl is very dangerous when you inhale it or your inject it or you smoke it or you ingest it,” said one of the advocates at the meeting for overdose prevention.
At the meeting, parents, students, and staff got lessons on signs to look for during an overdose, ways to properly administer naloxone, and ways to get help for addiction.
“I’ve been in there and I know how many people passed out behind it, so we need to do something,” said one parent who asked not to be identified.
At the end of the meeting, the Naloxone nasal spray kits were given out following a demonstration on how to use them. For more information on how to get free Naloxone contact the Council on Recovery at 713-942-4100.