The opioid crisis in America known no age boundaries. As a result, schools have taken the step of making anti-overdose drugs available to school nurses around the country, hoping to prevent deaths from overdose among opioid using teens. As recently as 2014, 76 teens died of prescritohn opioid overdoses alone.

The National Asociation of School Nurses has called for “the safe and effective management of opioid pain reliever (OPR)-related overdose in schools be incorporated into the school emergency preparedness and response plan.” The 2013 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) stated almost one in four teens reported abusing or misusing a prescription drug at least once in his or her lifetime.

In 2015, New York joined Vermont, Massachusetts, and Delaware in allowing public school nurses to add naloxone to their inventory. Other states with similar policies include

Also through the use of materials dedicated to the prevention of usage, schools and school nursing staffs can hopefully save students from the dangers of opioid abuse.