Nebraska bill would protect educators if they help a student who’s overdosed

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A new measure would help make sure school personnel won’t hesitate to save your child’s life if they’ve overdosed.

That’s one of the goals of Legislative Bill 521, which was discussed at the State Capitol on Friday afternoon.

If it passes, teachers and staff would be protected from criminal prosecution and administrative action for administering naloxone.

That’s a medication that can reverse or reduce the effects of opioids, including prescription drugs, heroin and even fentanyl.

According to the most recent data shared by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, school-age kids made up nearly 15% of overdose deaths in 2020.

Opioids were involved in more than 50% of those cases.

The largest percentage of deaths in 2020 involved fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says can kill you with a dose that’s small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil.

Its investigators seized more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl just last year.

The DEA says that’s enough to kill every single American.

Officials also report that it’s the No. 1 drug threat here in Nebraska, as well as our neighboring states Iowa and South Dakota.

Worse yet, the DEA says there’s been a sharp increase in the lethality of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills.

Six out of 10 pills tested in 2022 were potentially deadly, up from four out of 10 pills the year before.