President Joe Biden’s administration is now advising schools across the United States to keep the overdose reversal drug naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, in stock amid a surging number of fentanyl deaths among American children.
In a letter to the nation’s school systems, Biden and Education Department Secretary Miguel Cardona ask administrators to begin carrying naloxone and train teachers on how to administer the drug when a student is overdosing or being poisoned by fentanyl.
“In the midst of this fentanyl overdose epidemic, it is important to focus on measures to prevent youth drug use and ensure that every school has naloxone and has prepared its students and faculty to use it,” the letter reads:
Studies show that naloxone access can reduce overdose death rates, that its availability does not lead to increases in youth drug use, and that it causes no harm if used on a person who is not overdosing on opioids. It is important to note that individuals should not be afraid to administer naloxone, as most states have Good Samaritan Laws protecting bystanders who aid at the scene of an overdose. Our schools are on the frontlines of this epidemic, but our teachers and students can be equipped with tools to save lives. [Emphasis added]
Photos of fentanyl victims are on display at The Faces of Fentanyl Memorial at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters on September 27, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Laura and Chris Didier, the parents of Zach Didier who died at age 17 after taking a fake prescription pill that contained fentanyl, hold one of his senior photographs at a bench installed in his honor near Lauras parents home on November 13, 2022 in Sacramento, California. (The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Photos of fentanyl victims are on display at The Faces of Fentanyl Memorial at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters on September 27, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The letter comes as fentanyl deaths are now the leading cause of death among Americans from 18 to 45 and adolescent deaths associated with the poisonous drug have skyrocketed, as Axios reported:
Median monthly overdose deaths among adolescents ages 10-19 increased by 109% between the second half of 2019 and the second half of 2021, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Deaths involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl increased by 182%. [Emphasis added]
Just this week, news broke that in Loudon County, Virginia, at least eight high school students have overdosed on fentanyl and naloxone had to be administered to save their lives. In January, a high school student was saved by a school nurse who administered naloxone after the student overdosied on fentanyl.
During a congressional hearing earlier this year, Rebecca Kiessling explained that fentanyl deaths among young Americans are primarily poisonings, and the consumer is unaware they are ingesting deadly fentanyl. Kiessling lost both of her sons after they took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, unknowingly.
In 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a report that detailed how fentanyl is ending up in every American community across the nation and laced into many street drugs and counterfeit pills.
Essentially, the DEA report states that fentanyl in the U.S. is manufactured in China before being sent to Mexico, where the Mexican drug cartels then traffick the poisonous drug into American communities via the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Currently, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States,” the report states:
Fentanyl is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border in low concentration, high-volume loads, kilogram seizures often contain less than a 10 percent concentration of fentanyl. [Emphasis added]
…
DEA reporting continues to indicate the Sinaloa and the New Generation Jalisco (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG) cartels are likely the primary trafficking groups responsible for smuggling fentanyl into the United States from Mexico. [Emphasis added]
In 2022, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses or poisonings — nearly 70 percent of which were due to fentanyl. This figure indicates that fentanyl is killing more Americans annually than car crashes and breast cancer.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.