By WENDY HOLDREN
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, is working again this Legislative session to get the opioid overdose reversal drug, Naloxone, into schools across the state.
Stollings said some might argue the bill, SB-36, is moot because naloxone can now be purchased without a prescription. But he believes the live-saving medication should be on hand at schools, just in case.
“Time is important due to the effects of narcotics or opioids,” Stollings said. “This bill is about more ubiquitous availability of naloxone.”
The bill allows for school nurses to have naloxone on or near school premises and to administer the medication if he or she believes a student or another individual at the school is suffering from an opiate-related overdose.
While Stollings said he was not aware of any school-related instances of opioid overdoses, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports 48 people, ages 5 to 24, in West Virginia died due to overdose in 2015.
“I just want to make sure it is available at school, even though it can be available pretty much anywhere.”
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