Rising usage of fentanyl impacts North Texas students
Fentanyl, an opioid based drug, has had rising usage rates across North Texas. Staff on campus, across the county and throughout the state are working on fighting the rising rates of fentanyl usage. (Pixabay, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
April 20, 2023
Between Red Ribbon Week and driving classes, the school and the district provide students with a variety of resources on the dangers of drug abuse.
Perhaps the most dangerous of all opioid based drugs: fentanyl.
“So fentanyl is a drug that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine,” school nurse Lindsey McDavid said. “And it’s commonly being mixed with other drugs or sold as other drugs. And because it’s so much stronger, there’s a much, much higher risk for overdose.”
To help warn students and staff about the dangers of the drug, the district has provided posters for each campus.
The nationwide problem has impacted students in north Texas.
According to the Frisco Police Department, the city of Frisco, has had 7 overdoses in 2023, and 3 of them were fatal.
Local law enforcement seeks to prevent it from happening in Frisco ISD.
Ensuring student safety is a goal of Frisco I, with the district taking strides to make families and students feel safer.
“We’re really doing a lot in the way of training staff, training the assistant principals and how to recognize fentanyl, how to properly do these searches when there’s any suspected fentanyl use,” FISD Director of Student Services Clint Cypert said. “We’ve also got narcan in each of the nurse’s offices in the schools now.”
According to Cypert, there’s been an 800% rise in fentanyl deaths since 2019, just in Collin County.
Fentanyl overdose and poisoning can often lead to fast and severe consequences, but there are steps that can be taken to help.
“They need to tell somebody right away,” McDavid said. “They need to not worry about getting in trouble. They need to not worry about getting the other person in trouble who might have used the fentanyl. They need to tell someone right away because the student could die.”
