WASHINGTON-A Washington State Senate Bill is moving on to the House of Representatives in hopes of protecting students from opioid overdoses.
SB 5804 will remove previous restrictions that limited which schools had to carry doses of Naloxone. If it passes the House, all school districts must provide every elementary, middle, high, charter and state tribal school with at least one dose.
The previous rule only required schools with over 2,000 students to provide the medication designed to reverse opioid overdoses.
Safe Yakima Valley says the legislation is crucial to save student lives.
“Safe Yakima and its board 100% supports Narcan in schools,” says Executive Director Alicia Stromme Tobin. “The indisputable fact is that Narcan saves lives.”
The Yakima Health District reports 81 accidental overdose deaths in 2022, with 53 containing fentanyl.
Congressman Dan Newhouse has a Central Washington Fentanyl Taskforce in place, because of the drug’s impact on the area including schools.
“The presence and availability of fentanyl is huge,” says Newhouse. “It’s easily purchased, it’s cheap and its present in our schools.”
Newhouse says Washington’s unanimous 49-0 vote in favor of the bill shows how important lawmakers sees the issue for schools.
“Everybody recognizes this difficult issue that we’re facing,” says Newhouse. “It’s everywhere and it seems to be growing in prevalence. I’ve been told that kids as young as eight and ten years old are being exposed to it and using it. We’ve got a huge problem on our hands.”
Safe Yakima Valley and Newhouse encourage education about the drug so students can be aware of the risks they are taking.
“Our preference is that we would never need Narcan to save a life,” says Tobin. “That isn’t our current reality unfortunately. Bottom line is that every community member and business should carry Narcan and every school and law enforcement agency should as well.”
Community leaders like Newhouse echoes the sentiment of education, with Newhouse saying the legislation should only be the beginning.
“That’s treating a symptom,” says Newhouse. “We’ve got so many other things that we need to address but keeping kids and teachers safe is absolutely important.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Patty Kuderer (D-Bellevue) says the bill was originally suggested by a group of Lake Washington High School students who approached her.
“These courageous students from Lake Washington High School should be an inspiration to us all,” says Kuderer. “This is their bill to increase the availability of potentially lifesaving NARCAN opioid overdose treatment in schools and save lives.”
