“You get a naloxone kit! You get a naloxone kit! Even you get a naloxone kit! ”
Well sort of…
The Toronto Board School Board is moving forward with its plan to implement naloxone kits, known simply as opioid overdose prevention kits, in all 112 secondary schools. The decision comes after the school board voted on the matter.
Trustees who voted on the bill did not respond for comment.
“The decision to provide naloxone kits to schools was really about the increasing number of opioid overdoses that we're seeing across the country,” says TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird. He says, “everytime you turn on the news, you’re hearing about the opioid overdoses. The numbers keep going up and up”.
The City of Toronto has had its hands full the past year
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after being hit with a rash of opioid overdoses in late August of 2017. The city set up supervised injection sites to monitor and prevent the increasing number of deaths. The supervised injection sites decrease the risk of overdosing, but also provides counselling services, housing support and access to drug treatment according to Toronto Public Health. Moreover Toronto Public Health has equipped paramedics with naloxone kits being that they are usually the first ones to arrive at a scene. It is reported that since early August 2017, Toronto paramedics have responded to 55 non fatal and 4 fatal opioid overdoses per week. Another statistic The Works, a facility that operates the supervised injection sites declined to comment but referred me to email overdose at Toronto.ca. Similarly, the Toronto Drug Strategy was not available for comment. Bird says the kits provided to the Toronto District School Board are “relatively small.” “My understanding is that it's an intranasal spray. So it would be something you would depress into the nostril to administer. My understanding is that it would be relatively small kits.” The kits are estimated to cost the school board around $16,000 up to $20,000. Bird also makes the comparison that the naloxone kits are “not unlike epi-pens”, in that the kits are only to be used in the “off chance something should happen”. “We never want to use it,” he says, “but it’s there if needed.” While there have been no recent opioid overdoses within TDSB schools, the idea to equip schools with the kits is a proactive measure. Anyone can be affected by an overdose including “children, siblings, spouses, parents, friends and coworkers,” as outlined in the Toronto Overdose Action Plan for 2017. “For some reason a teacher or staff member appeared to have had an overdose, at least we have something that can be administered until paramedics can get there,” Bird explains.
A report from the Toronto Overdose Action plan reports that “it is possible for someone
to slip back into an overdose after naloxone use.”
The TDSB says it is “fine tuning” the curriculum to include staff to be better trained to handle incidents such as these. The staff will be trained in the following month of May and the training will continue into the upcoming school year. Once the TDSB is sure training is completed, the naloxone kits will be distributed to secondary schools in the city.
“So right now we are just fine tuning the curriculum for the staff training component of this,” Bird admits. “Once that's done we anticipate staff training to begin in may and then obviously be in place for the new school year. Once that training is complete then the naloxone kits would be distributed.”
The previous school year in September of 2017, the school board sent students home a letter from the Toronto Public Health detailing what a person suffering from an overdose looks like, the signs and symptoms associated with an overdose, the importance of talking with youth about opioids (both prescription and illegal). The letter includes the steps parents and guardians can take if faced with the issue. The letter tells readers what to do if someone is overdosing including dialing 911 and waiting until help
arrives. When asked about what the public and the community thinks about the idea, Bird replied, “I think people understand that it's just yet another tool that we have to help students if they need it. I think there's an understanding that out there that while not an issue for the TDSB right now, the fact is that it's good to be proactive and have this drug on hand on the off chance that we do run into an overdose.” Within each secondary school, 2 to 3 staff members will be instructed and trained on how to dispense the naloxone kits. The staff members do not necessarily have to be a teacher in the health and physical education department. Bird explains “a number of TDSB staff members are CPR certified” so “really it could be anyone in the staff.”
About 435,000 Americans regularly use heroin, a large increase in the last decade. 28,000 deaths a year are attributed to opiate overdoses, 2,590 of which occur in Ohio. This causes an increase of children in government custody, law enforcement officers carrying naloxone, and overflow in treatment centers. Drug traffickers choose Ohio to avoid violence involved with drug trade in large cities. Clinics over-prescribed very addictive painkillers, but once law enforcement cracked down they became very expensive, giving the cheap drug heroin an advantage. Adam Conkey was prescribed with pain pills twenty years ago, which started him on the road to heroin. Conkey and his girlfriend, Natasha
The documentary states that over 27,000 deaths a year are due to overdose from heroin and other opioids. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 prescription pain relievers account for 20,101 overdose deaths, and 12,990 overdose deaths are related to heroin (Rudd et al., 2010-2015). The documentary’s investigation gives the history of how the heroin epidemic started, with a great focus on the hospice movement. We are presented with the idea that once someone is addicted to painkillers, the difficulty in obtaining the drug over a long period of time becomes too expensive and too difficult. This often leads people to use heroin. This idea is true as a 2014 survey found that 94% of respondents who were being treated for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “more expensive and harder to obtain (Cicero et al., 2014).” Four in five heroin users actually started out using prescription painkillers (Johns, 2013). This correlation between heroin and prescription painkiller use supports the idea presented in the documentary that “prescription opiates are heroin prep school.”
Accidental drug overdose is one of the many extremely detrimental risks associated with injection drug use. According to a study by Marshall (2003) that analyzed death rates of injection drug users before and after the opening of a safe injection facility in Vancouver demonstrated the facility`s effectiveness through a comparison of the rates of fatal overdose before and after in the area of the clinic to rates before and after in another part of the city that the facility was not accessible. This study revealed that the fatal overdose rate in the area of the facility decreased by 35% after the...
... age could cause adolescents to seek to an alternative way to get opioids from the black market. Doctors will try to lower the rates of opioid dependents by prescribing an alternative medications. With many opioid-dependent patients becoming addictive to opioids it causes huge effects on the human body. With having opioid exposure at such a young age increase the possibility of becoming opioid-dependent patients. “About three quarters of all adolescents receiving treatment for opioid use disorders reported first used before the age of 25” (Pugatch, Marianne, et al 435). Also adolescents visit the emergency department involving “opioid pain relievers and benzodiazepines” (Jones, Christopher M, Leonard J Paulozzi, and Karin A Mack 881). There are many ways to make sure that adolescents will become educated about opioid addiction, for example treatment facilities.
The opioid crisis is Canada’s worst public health crisis since the emergence of HIV in the 1980s. The epidemic is dangerously pervasive, affecting Canadians of all ages and income brackets. The Government of Canada has taken several steps to address the crisis, but many doctors and public health
Heroin is one of the most dangerous drugs in the world. When using heroin, people run the risk of developing serious “infectious diseases” such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis (The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2014, para 10). Above all, heroin use often results in death. The DEA Strategic Intelligence Section (2016), who prepared the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary claims that heroin is the most fatal drug compared to other drugs because heroin related deaths occur at a much higher rate. In 2014 cocaine users outnumbered heroin users by about three and a half to one, yet there were twice as many heroin related deaths compared to that of cocaine (p. 9). One of the main causes of the large amount of death is a result of what dealers are lacing their heroin with. Fentanyl, a drug that is considered “50” to “100” times stronger than morphine (NIDA, 2016, para 1), is being used by dealers to mix in with their heroin in order to increase its effects and the quantity of their product. Because of how strong fentanyl-laced heroin is, the possibility of overdosing rises, which is the effect that numerous addicts seek out to attain. In the article “Spiked”, written by Maggie Lee (2015), Lieutenant Rick Mason from the Atlanta Police Department emphasizes, “… if somebody OD’s, that’s who [heroin addicts] want to buy their heroin from because it’s the strongest and it must be the best” (para 22). Heroin addicts chase the powerful batches, often asking around for the dealer selling the batch that is causing mass overdoses. Their high tolerance for heroin lead them to believe that they will not fall victim to a deadly overdose until it is too late. When these users consume what they think is their normal dose, the fentanyl kills them. Those unable to receive prescription medication from a doctor will argue that heroin is a cheap way to relieve pain. While heroin may help to
On the typical day, over 90 people will die at the hand of opioid abuse in America alone (National). In fact, as of 2014, nearly 2 million Americans were dependent and abusing opioids. The Opioid Crisis has affected America and its citizens in various ways, including health policy, health care, and the life in populous areas. Due to the mass dependence and mortality, the crisis has become an issue that must be resolved in all aspects.
Most adolescents who misuse prescription pain relievers are given the medication by an unknown friend or relative. This is a situation that can easily be avoided with an education on the risks of opioids. Patricia Schram, MD, an adolescent substance abuse specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, stresses the importance of parent involvement in preventing young adults from abusing opioids and in the recovery process, citing a study that claimed, “teens were less likely to abuse opioids if their parents often checked their homework, if they had been frequently praised by their parents and if they perceived strong disapproval of marijuana from their parents” (Viamont 1). Besides parent and family involvement, physicians have a role to play in preventing the spread of the opioid epidemic.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
On September 21, 2016, I attended my first Narcotic’s Anonymous (NA) meeting at Cana Lutheran Church. Before attending this meeting, I had some preconceived views on what an ordinary NA meeting might be like. I originally thought of the meeting only as a group of individuals seated in a circle while sharing their feelings. I imagined that these people might be forced to attend the meeting by a spouse or some other influence in their lives. However, I was certainly mistaken. This meeting was much more; in fact, it is an essential part of the recovery process for many.
Prescription drugs are making parents more overwhelmed than ever before about their teenaged child! Why must they worry so much about their teenaged child? “When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…” (Davies). This quote signifies that adolescents and adults have the option to quit or not try the drug when being introduced, but when they get started on the drug and they are thinking abouting quitting, they cannot because of the addiction they have on the drug. Each day they try to stay away from the drug, but they are having really bad withdrawals. Rockingham County Schools should inform parents about the strategies for preventing, recognizing, and addressing prescription drug abuse.
Years ago, the common image of an adolescent drug abuser was a teen trying to escape from reality on illegal substances like cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Today, there is a great discrepancy between that perception and the reality of who is likely to abuse drugs. A teenage drug abuser might not have to look any further than his or her parent’s medicine chest to ‘score.’ Prescription drug abuse by teens is on the rise. Also, teens are looking to prescription drugs to fulfill different needs other than to feel good or escape the pressures of adulthood. Teens may be just as likely to resort to drugs with ‘speedy’ side effects, like Ritalin to help them study longer, as they are to use prescription painkillers to check out of reality. Pressures on teens are growing, to succeed in sports or to get high grades to get into a good college (Pressures on today’s teens, 2008, theantidrug). Furthermore, because prescriptions drugs are prescribed by doctors they are less likely to be seen as deleterious to teens’ health. A lack of awareness of the problem on the part of teens, parents and society in general, the over-medication of America, and the greater stresses and pressures put upon teens in the modern world have all conspired to create the growing problem of prescription drug abuse by teens.
Magill, E. (Ed.). (2011). Teen health series:Drug information for teens (3rd ed.). Peter E. Ruffner.
There are many other options and treatment plans for people to consider before handing their life over to drugs. Drugs are not meant to be legalized without proper information and education about the drug for the public. Educational programs in the school system are a way of teaching the youth of how harmful these substances are. Even though some may be effective in treating pain, there are long-term side effects associated with these drugs that people need to consider. Pain is inevitable and suffering is
In today’s society, there is a larger variety of drugs that are used, drugs have become easily accessible, and drugs are more likely to be misused. Drugs are commonly misused because of the lack of education people have surrounding how the drug should be taken, or what the consequences of taking the drug may be. Drug education is planned information and skills that are relevant to living in a world where drugs have become more commonly misused (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_education). For teachers, implementing drug education can help individuals gain knowledge about drugs that they may be introduced to or come into contact with, and help to prevent the use and misuse of drugs among the students in the classroom. By students gaining this information, the prevention can be expanded into the community.