Tag

Drug Education

All articles tagged with #drug education

health1 year ago

Nationwide Drop in Overdose Deaths Spurs Investigation and Education Efforts

Jacy Werner, whose brother died from a fentanyl overdose, is using her personal tragedy to educate Gulf Coast teens on opioid overdose prevention. As the executive director of the Benjamin Thomas Werner Foundation, she speaks to high school students about the dangers of drugs like fentanyl and demonstrates how to use Naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversal drug. Her efforts are part of a broader trend contributing to a decline in overdose deaths in the U.S., as reported by the CDC. Werner's initiative aims to prevent other families from experiencing similar losses.

health-and-education2 years ago

"Governor Takes Action as Virginia High School Faces Opioid Overdose Crisis"

After nine suspected overdoses involving students at Park View High School, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an Executive Order requiring parents to be notified of any school-connected overdose within 24 hours. The order also mandates educational programs on drug use for parents and students, as well as collaboration with law enforcement to prevent overdoses. The Governor criticized the Loudoun County Public School division for delaying the notification of parents. The school division reported a total of 10 suspected overdoses at six high schools this year, with four of the initial eight Park View overdoses occurring within the school. The incidents highlight the prevalence of fentanyl in schools and communities, prompting increased efforts to address the opioid crisis.

health2 years ago

Texas community mourns teen's fentanyl overdose death and grapples with epidemic.

A 16-year-old Texas girl died of fentanyl poisoning after taking just one pill laced with the opioid, her parents and the teen’s school district announced Wednesday — the latest in a wave of teen overdoses in the state sparking lawmakers to call for schools to increase education surrounding the drug. Sienna Vaughn, a junior at Plano High School in Plano, Tex., took a pill Feb. 19 that she got from a friend that she thought was Percocet, a prescription painkiller she believed could help her relax, the girl’s family wrote on a memorial website for her.

health2 years ago

Texas Community Confronts Fentanyl Epidemic After Teen Overdoses

A wave of fentanyl overdoses among teenagers in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Texas has left families in shock and anger. Nearly a dozen students have overdosed on fentanyl from September to March, with three deaths. Fentanyl, a highly potent and addictive synthetic opiate, has ravaged adult populations for nearly a decade, but mass proliferation of the drug in recent years, coupled with a Covid pandemic that eroded teen mental health, has given it a wider path to young people. Median monthly overdose deaths involving fentanyl for people ages 10 to 19 increased 182% from July to December 2019 compared to the same period in 2021, according to a December report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.