Naloxone could soon be in medicine cabinets at Jacksonville-area schools

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida schools could soon be allowed to buy drugs to treat students who overdose on heroin.

Naloxone is known for saving the lives of people overdosing on heroin and other opiates.

The drug can either be injected or sprayed into the nose to revive people who are overdosing.

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And it could soon be stored in medicine cabinets at public schools.

One mother who asked not to be named knows what drugs can do to your body because her brother was addicted to heroin.

"It's important to me because I have had addiction in my family. For people that need a second chance, this is great to have in schools," she said.

She says there isn't much help for people who want to get clean so any type of prevention can help, especially where her children go to learn.

"The alternative would be death, so I think having that in school and taking a chance to revive a student versus letting them overdose I think is a better option," she explained. "Being kids, they sometimes try things they are not familiar with."

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According to the bill, school staff would have to be trained to administer the drug.

We called school districts across Northeast Florida today.

A Duval county school district spokesperson told Action News Jax reporter Jamarlo Phillips to request the number of overdoses through email, so we did and are now waiting to hear back.

A Clay County spokesperson told us there haven't been any overdoses on school campuses.

In St Johns County a school district spokesperson says the district only tracks drug-related incidents and not overdoses.

The bill also says if an injury happens while a school staff member is administering the drug, school districts and employees would not be held liable.

Cox Media Group