OPIOID OVERDOSE ANTIDOTE KITS - Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson says a federal government survey ranks Arkansas with having the highest percentage of students in the U.S. grades-9 through 12, who have taken pain medication without a doctor’s prescription. And with Opioid abuse on the rise, Arkansas school nurses are now being equipped with an antidote that can reverse overdoses and save lives. At a ceremony yesterday in the state Capitol, in Little Rock – Governor Hutchinson presented several school nurses with Naloxone kits, saying they will provide an "important lifesaving capability for schools. Hutchinson, a former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration who served under President George W. Bush; said preparing for the likelihood of overdoses is a change in how officials think about drug abuse.
"This is a technique with naloxone kits that would not have been considered in the ‘80s, even in the ‘90s, and probably even in the 2000s.," explained Hutchinson. "Things have changed," Hutchinson said. "We recognize how opioid abuse has overtaken so many young people either through overprescribing or their own abuse, but the priority has to be in saving lives first and then changing behavior."
The Arkansas School Safety Commission recommended providing the Overdose Kits in a school safety report released in December. The $100,000 cost for Naloxone, which is also known by the brand name Narcan, is being covered by a federal grant. In recent years, Arkansas State Troopers have also been equipped and trained in how to use Naloxone.
