House committee passes opioid-antidote measure for school personnel
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School nurses and some staff members would be allowed to give drugs to counteract opioid overdoses under a bill that unanimously passed a House committee earlier this week.
The bill, HB 2318, introduced by Del. John McGuire, R-Henrico, now moves to the full House of Delegates after its success in the Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions.
The bill allows school nurses and school staff who provide healthcare services to possess and administer Naloxone or other opioid inhibitors, provided that they have completed the training program, McGuire said during today’s session.
“It’s sad we need to have school nurses dealing with overdoses in our schools because the only reason they need Naloxone is because there’s some child that’s overdosing in our schools,” Del. T. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, said.
The number of overdose deaths among people aged 15 to 24 rose nearly 33 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Virginia, there were 1,130 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
