An opioid emergency kit hangs on the wall of the first floor of the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau on April 3, 2024. Kits like this one contain the overdose reversing drug naloxone and would be required in state schools if proposed legislation becomes law.
The proposal follows the move by the Anchorage School District last year to require the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to be in its schools in response to , sponsored by Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, would require all Alaska districts to keep at least two naloxone kits in each school and to have one person on campus that is trained in administering the drug.
Most states already allow naloxone to be present in schools and for staff to administer the drug. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Dj Tyson, a communications director for a behavioral health nonprofit called Volunteers of America, said the youth his organization serves are unknowingly using fentanyl when they take other drugs. VOA operates an Eagle River residential center for adolescents with substance abuse and behavioral health issues.