Pa. bill would require high schools to stock naloxone

A bill introduced last week in the Pennsylvania Senate would require all high schools in the state to have opioid reversal drugs on hand.

Under the measure, school personnel would volunteer to complete training on the use of naloxone, which goes by brand names including Narcan, and to store it at the schools.

Each school would need at least one person — a school nurse or other employee — who has been trained in using the opioid antidotes to be present daily at any high school school facility attended by students.

The legislation was introduced by Pennsylvania Sens. Christine M. Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, and Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia.

“This bill ensures that every Pennsylvania high school has the tools and training to save lives in the face of an overdose emergency,” Tartaglione said in a written statement.

“When we join together to ensure everyone has the tools they need to be safe in the wake of addiction, we build more secure communities where anyone can recover and shape their futures,” Saval said.

The senators introduced the measure in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Forum for Legislative Action, a student group that has spearheaded the proposal.

“As young people who have grown up amid the rise of the fentanyl crisis and many of us having witnessed its impact firsthand, advocating for access to naloxone in schools was deeply important to us because it ensures that schools are equipped with lifesaving tools,” the forum said in a statement.

”By doing so, the state can take a proactive stance in protecting its youth, preventing avoidable tragedies, and confronting this public health emergency with the urgency it demands.”

In 2015, Tom Wolf, then Pennsylvania’s governor, ordered schools to be permitted to store naloxone, but the bill now on the table would be the first to guarantee that every high school across Pennsylvania has the overdose reversal drugs.

Freeport Area School District has stocked naloxone since 2016 in all four of its school buildings, superintendent Ian Magness said Monday.

“Thankfully, we have never had to administer it,” Magness said.

Other districts throughout the region — including Mt. Lebanon, Yough and Plum Borough — in 2016 told TribLive Narcan was already stocked in their schools.

The measure says school employees must volunteer to handle naloxone. Any employee who is uncomfortable or unwilling does not have to do so.

Employees would complete training during their regular schedules or be compensated if training is outside of work.

The bill is awaiting referral to a standing committee, where it would need to be approved before moving to the Senate floor for a vote.

Of the 4,719 overdose deaths reported in Pennsylvania in 2023, about 83% were opioid-related and nearly 77% involved fentanyl, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.