In a serious wake-up call to a small community in Virginia, and reflecting a wider national crisis, seven students from Park View High School in Loudoun have overdosed on opioids in just the last three weeks. This alarming news was by the local sheriff’s office this past Tuesday.
“The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is investigating at least eight opioid-related overdoses of Park View High School students, seven of which have been reported in the past three weeks,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release. “Four of the overdoses occurred in the school, and of these, three required the administration of Narcan, and two of those required CPR by school personnel.”
Sheriff Mike Chapman pointed out that all these overdoses seem to be caused by fentanyl, a very powerful drug often disguised as a less dangerous painkiller.
Fentanyl is cheap to make and easy to hide, making it a big problem. The Drug Enforcement Administration has even said that most of the pills they seize are so strong that they could be deadly.
The number of these overdoses is on the rise. This year, the sheriff’s office has already looked into 18 cases involving young people in the county, almost reaching last year’s total of 19.
Dr. Aaron Spence, who is in charge of the county’s public schools, said it’s a sad day when the opioid crisis hits so close to home.
“LCPS is taking active steps to support our students, families and staff with fentanyl awareness and education, including training and supplying staff in each of our high schools with Naloxone for emergencies,” Spence said.
The schools are fighting back by educating students and families about the dangers of fentanyl and training school staff on how to use Narcan in emergencies. Park View High School is taking things further by having meetings for students and parents, adding extra administrators and counselors, and beefing up security.
Dr. Spence made it clear that addiction is at the heart of this problem. “We began to address Fentanyl awareness last spring, with a series of six community information sessions and will continue this effort division wide. I think it is important to note that the issue of addiction is truly at play here,” he said.
“When students come to school, we want them to learn and thrive. But, most of all we want them to live. We must, as a community, come together to find ways to help our young people who are facing these issues,” Spence added.
When asked for comment by FOX News Digital, the district responded that Dr. Spence “asked for our Safety and Security team to go to the school and conduct a safety assessment to ensure we were doing all we can to prevent students from accessing/using fentanyl in school.”
“The young people in our community, no matter whether on campus or off, need help to fight this substance abuse and addiction. We have devoted extra staff support for Park View, including training additional personnel on administering Narcan,” a spokesperson for the district wrote. “This is just one of many steps we will take moving forward.”
The district also shared a letter sent to families, revealing a worrying trend.
“To date this school year, our records indicate LCPS has had 10 suspected overdoses across six of our high schools. In this case, what this means is 10 students were transported for treatment of symptoms related to a suspected opioid overdose and four of those 10 students had one or more doses of Naloxone administered (three students at Park View High School and one student at Dominion High School have had Naloxone administered),” Spence wrote.
“For comparison’s sake, four incidents required naloxone administration to students during the entire 22/23 school year,” the letter continued.
This opioid crisis isn’t just a local issue; it’s a nationwide disaster. Some states, like New York and California, are tackling the problem by making sure that Narcan is available in colleges, just in case of overdoses.
This situation in Loudoun County is a clear call to action. The opioid crisis is spiraling out of control in this country, endangering our youth and creating increased homelessness. More has to be done to curtail this truly horrifying problem.
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