Georgia to provide opioid overdose reversal kits to all public schools

Georgia agencies announced Friday the launch of a program that will provide opioid overdose reversal kits to all public schools in the state.

The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) and the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE), in partnership with the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust (GOCAT), announced in a news release that funds from opioid settlement dollars will be used to provide the kits to schools and educate school staff.

“The opioid settlement funds give us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to turn tragedy into prevention,” said DBHDD Commissioner Kevin Tanner, in the release. “Putting overdose reversal kits in every Georgia school is a practical, compassionate use of those dollars. It means we are giving our educators and communities a fighting chance to stop a preventable death. This initiative is about saving lives before a family or school endures the heartbreak of losing a child.”

In January 2022, Georgia opted into a lawsuit brought against three large pharmaceutical distributors. Georgia received $636 million from those settlements, and Gov. Brian Kemp established the Georgia Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (GOSAC) in May 2023 to advise the Trustee of the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust about how to allocate the funds.

More than 2,300 public schools will receive kits that will have naloxone, a drug that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Naloxone is more commonly known by the brand name NARCAN.

Jessica Simon, opioid program analyst for the Coastal Health District of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said she works to educate people about naloxone to try to change the perception around the drug.

“That was a difficult part in the beginning, too —  just having conversations about naloxone about fentanyl and people not being afraid to have conversations or talking with their kids about these topics,” she said. “So we’ve kind of started to see a little bit of that shift, too, as people are more comfortable asking questions and talking about it or even carrying naloxone.”