ATLANTA — In a nod to the unfold of opioids, Georgia is putting in overdose reversal kits in any respect 2,300 public faculties within the state utilizing cash from a authorized settlement with the pharmaceutical business.
Distribution started this fall in elements of metro Atlanta and in southwest and central Georgia. The initiative is predicted to be accomplished statewide by spring.
“The opioid settlement funds give us a once-in-a-generation alternative to show tragedy into prevention,” Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Georgia Division of Behavioral Well being and Developmental Disabilities, stated in a press release saying the distribution Friday. “Placing overdose reversal kits in each Georgia faculty is a sensible, compassionate use of these {dollars}. It means we’re giving our educators and communities a preventing probability to cease a preventable demise.”
The Georgia Division of Training is partnering with Tanner’s company to distribute coaching sources to highschool workers. State College Superintendent Richard Woods stated the partnership will guarantee each faculty is prepared for an emergency.
The initiative comes after Senate Invoice 395 turned regulation final yr. Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, co-sponsored “Wesley’s Regulation” in reminiscence of a member of the family who died of a fentanyl overdose. The regulation requires faculties to inventory naloxone — a product branded as Narcan or Evzio — and permits lecturers and different faculty workers to hold and administer the remedy on faculty property.
