BRISTOL — Mika Austin, the student representative to the Newfound Area School Board, said at the board’s Nov. 28 meeting that drug use is part of the culture at Newfound Regional High School.
“It’s everywhere,” she said. “It’s just normal to walk in [to the bathroom] and see someone doing drugs. ... And the most upsetting part is it’s normal for us to joke about it, kind of like it’s just part of our culture.”
She explained that, every two weeks, prior to a school board meeting, she turns to her peers to ask what she should talk about. This time, it was drugs.
“It just really needs to be known that it is a really big issue, and it’s not just like a once-in-a-while thing. Like, the first day of school, I walked in on someone in the bathroom and it’s just really upsetting, and it’s here. It’s happening.”
Austin’s comments came during a meeting where school nurse Lisa Hodsdon made a presentation about how the school district is training staff to deal with possible drug overdoses, and how having standing orders from physicians can keep Narcan in stock.
Narcan, also known as naloxone, is a prescription medication used in the treatment of known or suspected opioid overdoses. The drug competes with the opioids to restore normal breathing and can reverse the effects of the overdose.
“We’ve all heard that there is fentanyl out there,” Hodsdon said, advocating for the essential training not only in the administration of Narcan, but to protect the person attempting to help.
“All you have to do is touch somebody else’s paraphernalia and you absorb it,” she said. “You can get an opioid in your system through touching and absorption. You can get it through ingestion.”
Anyone coming across someone in distress should call the office to have her paged, or even call 911, she said.
“It’s absolutely, absolutely, absolutely OK to call 911 if you are not sure,” she said. “It’s better to call them and have them come. That five- to six-minute timeframe is so important. The brain stops without oxygen.”
She said it can take 30 seconds to a minute to assess someone and figure out what might be wrong.
Without a standing order from a doctor, even as school nurse, she cannot administer Narcan, which is why she was asking the school board for a policy change to allow it. She also wants to train additional members of the school community in how to administer the drug.
“What we can potentially do is approve the standing orders and then send the actual policies [to the policy committee] so we can at least get it in the buildings, and then get the policy cleaned up,” she said.
The training also would include debriefing after the use of Narcan so everyone knows what to expect.
One of the effects of Narcan can be aggressive behavior once the person regains consciousness.
“So am I going to probably get punched in the face by somebody if it’s an aggressive man coming out? Yep. But it’s worth it to me,” she said.
The school board approved a motion to include Narcan on a list of standing orders for medical intervention.
(2) comments
I think increasing the availability of naloxone to what appears to be a high risk population is a great idea. However it is EXTREMELY concerning that both the school nurse -and by extension the Laconia Daily Sun for publishing without fact-checking- are also spreading potentially dangerous misinformation regarding fentanyl. When you publish & perpetuate the rumor that “all you have to do is touch [something] and you absorb it. You can get an opioid in your system through touching and absorption.” This is absolutely, patently, false, and extremely dangerous considering it can cause significant hesitation to help an overdosing individual out of fear of absorbing the drug through touch, and thus, has the potential to literally kill someone.
But don’t just take my word for it: Google it for yourself or visit any of the following reputable sources:
Can touch this: training to correct police officer beliefs about overdose from incidental contact with fentanyl
https://healthandjusticejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40352-021-00163-5
“In 2016, as an increasing number of overdose deaths were attributable to fentanyl, the highly potent synthetic opioid, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued misinformation about fentanyl exposure. It warned that “fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin or accidental inhalation of airborne powder can also occur …. Just touching fentanyl or accidentally inhaling the substance during enforcement activity or field testing the substance can result in absorption through the skin …. The onset of adverse health effects, such as disorientation, coughing, sedation, respiratory distress or cardiac arrest is very rapid and profound, usually occurring within minutes of exposure” (DEA, 2016). […] Given the perceived credibility of these sources, this misinformation propagated widely across mainstream and social media, as well as through policing informational networks (Attaway et al., 2021; Beletsky et al., 2020). It may lead officers to take unnecessary precautions in responding to scenes where fentanyl is suspected, wasting time in effective overdose response. It also perpetuates community-wide stigma against people who use drugs by inaccurately portraying them as toxic and dangerous to be around. The misinformation may further aggravate stress and burnout among police by placing an extraordinary but unfounded mental strain on police officers, perpetuating the belief that they can quickly die from touching or breathing a substance police routinely encounter.”
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Toxicologist: 'You can't just touch fentanyl and overdose'
https://www.ems1.com/opioids/articles/toxicologist-you-cant-just-touch-fentanyl-and-overdose-qCP7P9puLCouxYbr/
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“You cannot overdose just by touching fentanyl or another opioid and you cannot overdose just by being around it,” said Dr Ryan Marino, medical director of Toxicology & Addiction at University Hospitals, Cleveland. “It will not get into the air and cause anyone to overdose.”
He added: “You cannot overdose through accidental contact. People do overdose accidentally, but it is people who are using drugs and either not expecting fentanyl or carfentanil, or something like that, or people who get an unknown dose because they are buying drugs from the street, so overdose that way.”
Lewis S. Nelson, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Division of Medical Toxicology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, agreed with these comments, explaining that an overdose from fentanyl by being in its presence was “not possible”.
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-fentanyl-overdose/fact-check-overdose-of-fentanyl-just-by-being-in-its-presence-is-not-possible-experts-tell-reuters-idUSL1N2PI0PZ
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Fentanyl panic goes viral: The spread of misinformation about overdose risk from casual contact with fentanyl in mainstream and social media
Leo Beletsky, Sarah Seymour, [...], and Clark Freifeld
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7492952/
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The risk of clinically significant exposure to emergency responders is extremely low.”
Skin exposure is not expected to lead to toxicity due to its extremely poor penetration of the skin barrier, and symptoms of intoxication from skin exposure are unlikely.
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/media/1740/download
This is spreading some dangerous misinformation. You absolutely cannot overdose on opioids through touch alone. Don’t believe me? I have receipts:
https://healthandjusticejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40352-021-00163-5
Can touch this: training to correct police officer beliefs about overdose from incidental contact with fentanyl
https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/can-fentanyl-be-absorbed-through-your-skin/2022/10
UC Davis Health toxicology expert dispels myths around fentanyl exposure
Can fentanyl be absorbed through the skin or by touching an item or surface where it is present?
It is a common misconception that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin, but it is not true for casual exposure. You can't overdose on fentanyl by touching a doorknob or dollar bill. The one case in which fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin is with a special doctor-prescribed fentanyl skin patch, and even then, it takes hours of exposure.
Why is it important to dispel the myth that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin?
It is important that we clarify and let everyone know that fentanyl cannot really be absorbed through the skin because people who have overdosed on fentanyl may have only minutes to live. Pausing or waiting for other people to arrive means that person might die. They need our help and it is safe to help them.
I’m all for making nalaxone available but it is highly concerning that the school nurse is also the one peddling this dangerous misinformation.
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