Every California middle and high school will stock at least two doses of naloxone—a nasal spray that treats an opioid overdose—on campus under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2023–24 budget released last week.
While hundreds of schools in the state have already begun to stock naloxone on campuses amid rising opioid-related overdoses and deaths, this year’s $108.8 billion K–12 education budget (pdf) includes a $3.5 million ongoing increase for the doses to be provided to schools.
Among the 7,125 opioid-related deaths in California in 2021, 8.5 percent of those who died were between the ages of 15 and 19, according to the most recent data from the California Public Health Department….