Authorizes high schools to include opioid overdose prevention and non-intravenous opioid antagonist administration as part of required health education courses

• Democratic1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Lea Webb says this is needed

In the United States, opioid overdoses are the third leading cause of pediatric deaths. Between 1999 and 2023, almost 75,000 young Americans lost their lives to overdose. This increase in mortality has occurred despite overall adolescent drug use declining - a paradox driven by the widespread availability of counterfeit substances in youth-accessible products. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adolescent overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2019, largely due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl contaminating counterfeit prescription pills and other substances. Most of these deaths were unin- tentional - losses that could have been prevented with timely inter- vention. The CDC further reported that bystanders were present in two- thirds of adolescent overdose deaths (ages 1019) yet no documented bystander response was reported in nearly 681 of cases. This crisis is especially severe in rural areas of New York, where limited access to emergency medical services and response times averag- ing over 14 minutes, more than twice those in urban settings, signif- icantly increase the risk of fatal outcomes. Simply calling 911 is not enough when brain damage begins to occur within minutes of respiratory depression caused by an overdose. Naloxone is a fast-acting opioid antagonist that reverses the life-threatening respiratory depression and is safe to administer even when an overdose has not occurred. In a peer reviewed article published by the National Library of Medi- cine, the authors recommend that "education would ideally be coupled with the provision of naloxone in schools - an approach recently imple- mented by numerous districts..." Other states have already taken action to protect their students. School districts in California and Virginia have equipped high schools with naloxone and trained students to respond to opioid overdoses - initiatives proven to be both feasible and life- saving. While New York schools already include instruction on opioid and drug prevention as part of health education, prevention alone is no longer sufficient. State education law currently authorizes students with asthma, aller- gies, and diabetes to self-carry emergency medication and the law authorizes schools in New York to provide over-the-counter medical devices to students - this bill adds non-intravenous opioid antagonists given its life-saving purpose. The New York State "Good Samaritan Law," Public Health Law Chapter 45, Article 30, Section 3000-a, provides legal protection for people who provide reasonable emergency medical assist- ance to those who are believed to be injured, ill, or in an unconscious state. There are no legal exceptions for students in public schools. The changes to the education law proposed in this bill will ensure that schools will have the necessary treatment as well as the trained staff and students equipped with a proven life-saving solution to save a life threatened with opioid overdose.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.