As fentanyl overdoses continue to plague the U.S. and deaths are occurring at schools in Alabama, at least one school system wants to make sure parents are extra aware of what their children are doing.
The Baldwin County School System, Alabama’s third-largest public school system with around 31,000 students, pushed out a message Monday to parents that any illicit substance inhaled within a vape could have deadly consequences.
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The news conference, held at a mental health outpatient clinic in Fairhope, did not address one specific instance at the school system. Rather, it was structured as a public service announcement warning parents about the rising threat of deadly synthetic drugs circulating throughout the U.S.
It also comes at a time when Narcan, a brand name medicine that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose, is available in almost every Alabama high school and even in elementary schools.
“I consider today’s message similar to events in the past where school communities would put a wrecked car along the highway during holiday season to make people aware that drinking and driving is dangerous,” said Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler. “This is not about a drug problem in Baldwin County Schools. We’ve had very few expulsions because of drugs. But it’s a wakeup call to our Baldwin County communities on what’s happening with this deadly trend.”
The news conference also raised the alarm about the rise of teenage vaping, which has exploded in use within the past decade to the point where 1 in 10 high schoolers use some sort of vape, according to the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Of those users between the ages of 15 and 21, 66% were unaware that some companies put nicotine in their products.
According to Baldwin school officials, students were often also unaware that drugs were laced into vaping products.
“We’ve found that more and more often lately … these kids don’t know what’s in it,” said Marty McRae, assistant superintendent over safety and security.
Ashley Simon, a clinical director with The Bridge, Inc. – an adolescent drug and rehabilitation center with a presence in 30 Alabama counties – said that drugs that students are vaping contain dangerous amounts of fentanyl, and that youths are often unaware of the dangers they are getting themselves in when they inhale.
The dangers are jolting. Illicit fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent more than morphine and many times that of heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even a tiny amount of fentanyl can be deadly for its user and those who come in contact, sparking alarm among educators and law enforcement.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has rolled out a public awareness campaign aptly called, “One Pill Can Kill.”
“They can’t see it or test it,” said Simon, noting that 71% of overdose deaths in Baldwin County involved fentanyl use. “This new generation of drugs comes in electronic devices. We are hearing about it killing children. Parents, please talk to your kids. Parents are the No. 1 reason kids don’t use drugs or alcohol.”
Indeed, the overall fentanyl overdose trend is troublesome. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioid overdose case climbed above 100,000 people for the first time in 2021, and deaths are expected to be even higher by the end of 2022. In Jefferson County alone, health officials reported a 118% jump in fentanyl-related deaths from 2019 to 2022.
Fentanyl-related overdoses are also rattling Alabama schools. At Selman High School earlier this month, one student was killed, and four others were taken to a hospital from suspected fentanyl exposure. In Chickasaw last month, a suspected fentanyl overdose drove school officials and local police to place the city’s high school on a soft lockdown.
Baldwin County officials have not faced similar situations, though school system officials are increasing efforts, and expenditures, to deal with it.
One strategy involves purchasing vaping alert monitors, which detects the location of where a student is vaping and what kind of products are being used. Monitors were purchased and installed at Fairhope’s 9th grade academy last year and are alerting officials to vape use within the schools.
“It’s been working well,” he said. “It was more of a ‘yes, (the monitor) was there’ but the kids have gotten smarter to it. They know what the device is which is fine. It’s a deterrent.”
Jon Cardwell, principal at Fairhope High School, said the monitors are “a good tool in discovery” though the aim is not to “catch them.”
“Any deterrent we have is worth the money (we spent) for it,” said Cardwell. “Once the word gets out, it doesn’t happen anymore. We want to stop (vape use inside schools).”
McRae said school officials will evaluate the success of the monitors at Fairhope before determining whether the Baldwin County School Board should expand it throughout the district. The county school system encompasses the entire county except for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, which operate their own city school districts.
The monitors, McRae said, cost $2,500 per unit.
Tyler said the school system is committed to purchasing the devices that will “save lives.”
“If we have to spend local funds, we’ll do it,” he said.
In addition, the school system purchased in 2019 Narcan, a brand name for naloxone – the medicine that reverses an opioid overdose – and placed it county schools. Within the past month, Narcan was placed within the elementary schools.
Ashley Barnhill, health services coordinator with the Baldwin County School System, said the school system has not had to use Narcan “at this time.”
Michael Sibley, spokesman with the Alabama Department of Education, said the state is providing training on Narcan use, and the agency is encouraging all schools to have it on stock.
“Narcan is, or will be, available to every high school and is currently stocked in most high schools throughout the state,” said Sibley. “Narcan is used as needed for any unresponsive student – whether there is opioid use or not. There is no negative impact for using Narcan if there is no drug use, but it can save a life if so. We strongly encourage school systems to have Narcan available in case of an emergency.”
Tyler said he was unaware of what other school systems in Alabama were doing to express concerns over synthetic opioids and rising overdoses nationwide. He said “the growing fentanyl, THC and vaping issue” is frustrating school administrations statewide.
Sibley said school participate in Red Ribbon Week, and universal prevention campaigns across the state “with the purpose of increasing awareness about the dangers of drugs, promoting positive health behaviors, and changing attitudes around drug use.”
Dr. Karen Marlowe, director of the Center of Opioid Outreach at Auburn University, said that despite the education efforts, 2.5 million teenagers have used some form of vape. She said the factors contributing to that are through the marketing of the products and the misconception that vapes are relatively safe compared to other products such as tobacco and alcohol.
“Our schools and civic organizations need to continue to provide education on the risks of vaping as well as substance use,” Marlowe said. “A multiprong approach to education should include students, parents, community members and educators to have a real impact.”
She added, “As we know the issues related to substance abuse are constantly evolving as we see with the emergence of fentanyl, hence the need for the education to be ongoing and to occur on a regular basis.”
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