Maryland, Virginia leaders hold drug safety meeting on Narcan

WASHINGTON - Drug safety is taking center stage in Maryland and Virginia as Montgomery County Public School leaders and Virginia Congressman Don Beyer hold separate events to discuss the use of the opioid reversal drug Narcan.

FOX 5’s Maureen Umeh says Montgomery County School leaders will discuss new rules for students carrying Narcan. Law enforcement and health officials will be training students on how to use the opioid-reversal medication in case of an emergency.

Naloxone is already stocked in every Montgomery County Public School, and it’s also available for free to Montgomery County residents without a prescription.

So far, Hundreds of MCPS students have received county-sponsored training at regional weekend forums, and students are now allowed to carry personally obtained Narcan on property in response to the rise in youth overdose cases.

In Virginia Congressman Don Beyer will be at a roundtable event with other stake holders to discuss drug safety.

At the end of the event, free supplies of a generic version of the opioid-overdose-reversal drug naloxone will be donated to the community courtesy of US WorldMeds.

Data shows that in Virginia, there were more than 24-hundred overdose deaths in 2022. The roundtable is expected to highlight actions that are being done right now to turn the tide and save lives in the D.C. region.