Three young Florida students have managed to get their campaign for public schools in the state to have the antidote for opioid overdoses turned into a bill, a television channel reported today.
State Senator Jason Pizzo of the Democratic Party endorsed the struggle of Asher Lieberman, Jolie Dreiling and Genna Grodin to save lives in schools with the drug Naloxone, a nasal spray that reverses the effects of opioids.
The NBC network interviewed Pizzo and the three young people, who last month presented to school authorities a study that shows that the opioid crisis that affects the whole country is also lived in schools.
According to data collected by them, in the last two years the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, which is responsible for serving people affected by drugs in public places, has supplied Naloxone, which is marketed under the name of Narcan, to a total of 24 teenagers who overdosed in schools.
“The opioid crisis is costing and destroying lives, and thanks to the efforts of these three teenagers some lives will be saved, so it’s wonderful to be part of this,” Pizzo said of the bill he promotes.
The idea is to allow public schools to have the antidote in their medicine cabinets as they have other medicines and products.
Official data indicate that in 2017 there were 72,287 deaths due to drug abuse. The entity noted that cases of overdoses of opioids for medical use, such as fentanyl, caused more casualties than heroin.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA, in English) estimated at four million the number of addicts to painkillers, including those of medical prescription, almost 300,000 of which are adolescents.
According to a study published this month, in 2025 there will be more than 80,000 deaths from overdoses of opioids in the US, an increase of 147% compared to 2015. (EFEUSA) .-
