DRUG DEATH: Parents call for overdose training
Amid mounting death toll, some looking at providing naloxone for parties
In the midst of B.C.’s opioid crisis, and with graduation celebrations fast approaching, some parents are calling for overdose training and naloxone kits to be widely available to teens.
Anakana Schofield learned how to use naloxone last fall because she wanted to be able to recognize and respond if someone overdosed. Her 17-year-old son, Cúán, took an emergency medical responder course last summer, where he learned the same skills.
This weekend, before Cúán attended a graduation party, the Kitsilano Secondary Grade 12 student asked his mother to borrow her naloxone kit so he could be ready to help if anything happened to one of his peers.
“I was very impressed that he suggested it, as I wouldn’t actually have thought of it myself,” Schofield, an acclaimed novelist, said.
“I think it’s nuts that we aren’t training kids in overdose response. It would bring home the risk and promote sensible harm reduction rather than our blinkered and regressive just-say-no, or don’t-dodrugs approach. It is intelligent to train kids and have them looking out for each other.”
Cúán said he didn’t expect to use the naloxone kit — and he didn’t end up needing it — but he wanted to be prepared. Even more important than having naloxone available, he said, is educating teens about what is in drugs these days, what an overdose looks like and what to do.
The onus, he said, should be on the schools and the government.
Vancouver School District’s SACY program attempts to do just that, with programming for students in Grades 8-12, parents and teachers. This includes training, clubs, groups, in-class drug education, assemblies and a three-day program called STEP.
Over the past year, there has been an emphasis on opioid overdoses and fentanyl.
According to the district, the program has reached thousands of students since 2009, however it is not mandatory.
When it comes to naloxone availability, voluntary training and naloxone kits were made available to 21 alternative schools, Gathering Place adult education centre and SACY staff.
“For those who took advantage it is available,” said Art Steinmann, manager of substance use, health promotion and SACY. “The school board continues to monitor it and may adjust that moving forward.”
Kelesh Naraine, who has a son in Grade 11 in East Vancouver, likes the SACY program, but wants to see even more overdose education for students.
Naraine said he, his wife and son talk candidly about drugs and what is going on at school, and are considering getting trained in how to administer naloxone and keeping a kit on hand.
“I think for me, it’s right up there with sex education,” Naraine said of overdose and drug education. “You need to know this — it is absolutely critical.”
In New Westminster, the school district is dealing directly with the effects of street drugs. On Friday, one 16-year-old girl died and another was hospitalized after they took an unknown drug they had bought from a street dealer.
Both girls attended Power Alternate Secondary, one of the district’s education programs for vulnerable students.
Sixty-six youths age 16 to 18 attend the program from across the Lower Mainland.
“This is a terrible tragedy we’re trying to deal with,” New Westminster School District associate superintendent Janet Grant said on Monday.
According to reports, the students ingested what they thought was MDMA or ecstasy. Toxicology results are expected this week.
Although it is unclear what the pills taken by the youths contained, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall said RCMP testing of street pills sold as ecstasy have “seldom been found to be either pure or even contain ecstasy. We have warned young people about this for years. And more recently, with the advent of fentanyl and other analogs, we know that a range of street drugs do contain fentanyl.”
New Westminster School District Superintendent Pat Duncan said counsellors and psychologists trained to deal with trauma were available at the school on Monday.
Graduation celebrations at New Westminster Secondary School are scheduled for the end of June, but Duncan said there aren’t plans for any extra programming about the dangers of using drugs before then.
Drug and alcohol use is a perennial concern, and the district and high school are constantly educating students, he said, including using a substance abuse prevention worker, school liaison officers and counsellors.
The district also held a forum earlier this month to raise awareness about the opioid crisis.
When asked if the high school would have naloxone on hand for grad, Duncan said the district has had discussions with the police and Fraser Health, but no decision has been made to date.
Steinmann said Vancouver is concerned about drug use during grad season, particularly with fentanyl in the mix.
Jen Mezei, president-elect for the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, said her organization has heard concerns from parents this year regarding fentanyl and overdose, and they are wondering what to do to keep their kids safe.
She said the response across the province is not consistent. — with files from Pamela Fayerman,
Gordon McIntyre and The Canadian Press