Boxed kits with naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, and associated equipment are stacked on tables at the Alaska Department of Health’s Anchorage office on Aug. 9. The kits were assembled that day in preparation for distribution to school districts around the state, in accordance with House Bill 202. The bill requires schools to stock the kits and to have personnel trained to use them, (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Emergency kits to save victims of opioid overdoses are on their way to Alaska schools, in accordance with a new law.
The law is the product of a measure, House Bill 202 , that Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed on Aug. 30. The bill requires schools statewide to have kits on hand and, when schools are in session or otherwise open to the public, trained people on site to administer those kits if needed.
Although the new law formally goes into effect 90 days after the governor signed the bill, as is usually the case with Alaska legislation, the state Department of Health has already begun shipping out kits with overdose-reversal medicine and associated gear.