LISTEN: Every school in the state and most government buildings will have naloxone readily available in compliance with recent legislation. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports.
Legislators joined a team of volunteers Thursday to assemble opioid overdose kits for Georgia’s public schools.
Over 2,300 schools in Georgia will receive opioid overdose kits with four doses of Naloxone, the overdose reversal drug. The effort is a collaboration between the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the state Department of Education, and the Metro Regional Educational Service Agency.
State Superintendent Richard Woods said they’re training multiple people in each school on how to use the kits.
"Every minute counts," he said. "If I'm having to figure out 'What should I do?' or 'how should I use it?' then that’s time I'm losing," he said. "This is time that is very critical for any child or for any individual that's within our schools."
The kits are part of Wesley’s law which took effect last year. It requires all schools and most government buildings to make naloxone available in a secure location.
Tanner said Naloxone isn’t as stigmatized as it once was and educators have been excited to receive overdose kits.
"I think that there's been obviously a shift in people's feelings about Narcan," he said. "It's gone from being something you had to have a prescription to get to now it's openly available through pharmacies without a prescription."
Each kit comes with a QR code on the inside lid that schools can scan to automatically alert the DBHDD that they need more Naloxone.
