School districts to decide whether to accept heroin antidote

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A heroin antidote could be coming to private and public high schools in Kentucky this fall.

Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Executive Director Van Ingram tells The Courier-Journal (https://cjky.it/1rq142z ) it will be up to each Kentucky school district to decide whether to accept the free kits being offered by Adapt Pharma.

The pharmaceutical company announced earlier this year that it would donate Narcan, a name brand of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, to any high school in the nation that wants it.

Ingram along with state health and education officials met this month with Adapt Pharma representatives to discuss the possibility.

“We all agreed it’s a good opportunity to provide some help to our school districts without any cost to them,” Ingram said.

Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said she could not immediately comment on whether the district would participate.

“We’re in the very early stages of exploring this option,” she said.

Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez says training on using the Narcan kits is tentatively scheduled for September at the department’s annual health coordinators’ seminar.

Audrey Morrison, who has two children at St. Francis High School, said she thinks it would be a good idea.

“It can’t hurt and it might help,” she said. “There’s no way it can encourage drug use. No one decides to become a drug addict. They slip into it.”

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Information from: The Courier-Journal, https://www.courier-journal.com