Minnesota Legislation Would Put Naloxone in Schools for Opioid Overdoses
Nearly identical bills in the Minnesota Legislature would provide state funding to put naloxone in every school in the state. The medication, which also goes by the brand name Narcan, helps reverse the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose if administered quickly enough.
Congress is also working on similar legislation that would allow states that have similar programs – currently there are fewer than 10 – to apply for federal grants to pay for the medication.
Bills in both the Minnesota legislature and U.S. Congress would put at least two doses of naloxone–which reverses the life-threatening impacts of an opioid overdose–in every school.
The state bills call for two doses in every school. Supporters of the legislation at a Thursday press conference reported only about a tenth of Minnesota’s more than 300 districts have naloxone in every school.
“I think there are some schools who think this isn’t a problem in their district, and, unfortunately, this doesn’t discriminate by geography, by socioeconomic status, by race, by anything,” said Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, an author of the Senate version. “It’s happening everywhere, that’s the urgency.”
U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-3rd Congressional District, authored the federal legislation. His district includes the northwest suburbs of Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove and Plymouth. He joined Morrison at the press conference in the state Capitol in St. Paul.
“Schools can’t even afford pens and pencils for God’s sake, right now, let alone lifesaving needs for students,” said Phillips. “So that’s what this is really about, just a little bit of incremental funding that’s already out there and does not spend a dollar more.”
The two bills in St. Paul are both part of larger spending bills that Morrison expects have a good chance of passing this session.
Also See: PRISM Designated as Naloxone Access Point
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