Santa Clara County looks to add overdose-reversal drug Narcan in all high schools

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County officials are shedding light on their plan to add the overdose-reversal medication Narcan to high schools county-wide.

Officials said young people are getting their hands on benign candy, like gummy bears, laced with fentanyl and opening up a potential portal to drug addiction, overdose and death.

"It’s quite alarming. We’ve lost 11 young people age 10-to-19 in 2021 due to overdose," said Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, the Santa Clara County superintendent of schools.

SEE ALSO: 15-year-old girl dies after overdosing on high school campus

To combat the growing threat from opioids disguised as candy, which officials said continue to flood schools campuses, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is earmarking $135,000 for the purchase of Narcan kits. Each of the county’s 65 high schools could receive one.

"A young person can think they’re taking Percocet or something they bought online and it can be laced with fentanyl and kill them," Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who spearheaded the effort.

The scenario Chavez laid out came to fruition for 17-year-old star athlete Linus Blom, costing him his life.

"The detective mentioned they suspect that there’s been a laced pill, that he was able to get and access. And that laced pill probably had a dosage of fentanyl," his father Jan Blom said in April.

Health experts said Narcan, administered by spray through the nose, prevents an overdose immediately, without the danger of addiction.

"The way that Narcan works is that it essentially when it enters the brain it takes off the binding of fentanyl to the opioid receptors in the brain," said Dr. Erin Woodhead, a substance abuse expert at San Jose State University. "And then body can resume normal functioning."

County school officials said the vast majority of high school communities welcome this latest safety tool, similar to defibrillators and EpiPens.

But some are worried what is meant as an overdose aid, could aid drug experimentation.

"There’s either no effect, or it decreases risky substance use behavior," said Dr. Woodhead. Added Dewan, "Adding Narcan is just an additional layer to insure we have life-saving medication." 

The superintendent said Narcan is optional, and that staffers must be trained in its use before the medication will make its way on campuses. That could happen sometime before Thanksgiving.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter @JesseKTVU and Instagram @jessegontv