DENVER — A new bill working to change who can use Naloxone in schools is one step away from becoming Colorado law. The final decision is now up to Gov. Jared Polis.
SB25-164 passed out of both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly with bipartisan support. The legislation is now headed to the governor's desk for review.
In a statement a spokesperson said, “Governor Polis is committed to making Colorado safer for everyone in Colorado and will review this legislation if it reaches his desk.”
Senator Janice Marchman, a Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, said the idea came from students facing the ongoing opioid epidemic.
“I mean, we heard of one student who passed away of a fentanyl overdose, and no one could really help,” Sen. Marchman said. “And that is terrifying and traumatic for everyone involved. The family of the kids as well as the students.”
Currently, Colorado law mandates that individuals must be tested or trained to administer Naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose on school grounds or on school buses. The new bill would eliminate that training requirement. Senator Marchman said ultimately, that would mean more people could use Naloxone during an emergency at school.
A question people frequently ask is what happens if you use Naloxone on someone who isn’t overdosing. Experts, including Dr. Rob Valuck with the Center for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention at the CU school of Pharmacy, have long said it doesn’t harm them.
Marchman said sometimes people think this is an issue mainly impacting older students, but then she recounted what happened one day while teaching middle school.
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“I had a group of students in seventh grade who all went to lunch and came to me after lunch, and they all kind of started passing out,” Sen. Marchman said. “Before I had a chance to get on the phone, the assistant principal showed up and said, 'Oh, I think all these kids took the pill from so-and-so's mom's closet.'”
Luckily those pills weren’t laced with anything.
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