A new law went into effect in California Jan. 1, requiring public universities to provide opioid reversal medication instruction and education during campus orientation.
The new rules come after Sentate Bill (SB) 367 was introduced last year by California State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield). The bill was signed into law in August.
Public universities are already eligible to obtain Naloxone, also known as Narcan, through a state program called the Naloxone Distribution Project.
The program provides the lifesaving medication for free to schools and universities, law enforcement, community organizations, first responders and other agencies in the state.
The medication reverses the impacts of opioids, such as fentanyl or heroin, on the neurological system.
“Far too many families have had to bury their loved ones after they’ve overdosed on opioids. This is unacceptable, and while more must be done, I am proud to have authored SB 367,” Hurtado told The Epoch Times in a statement.
She said she introduced the bill to help reduce the number of opioid related deaths at public universities and colleges in California.
Through the law, she said, campus health centers will be required to maintain nasal spray dosages of the opioid blocker, in addition to providing educational classes during student orientation.
“One death is too many, and SB 367 ensures that life saving medication is available to prevent these senseless deaths,” she said.
California State University–Fullerton spokesman Chi-Chung Keung told The Epoch Times the university’s health services department has been preparing for the new guidelines through a campus work group.
“We believe that any additional education about opioid use helps provide safety to our campus community,” he said.
Keung said the school has no known reported cases of opioid overdoses.
Officials from UCI, USC, and UCLA were not immediately available for comment.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last month to authorize funds for opioid blockers, such as Narcan, for Orange County school districts.
Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death in the county for those 17 and under, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said during the board’s meeting last month.
“More than traffic collisions, more than accidents, more than suicide, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death amongst our youth in Orange County,” he said during the meeting.
Only 4 percent of drug-related deaths nationally in 2014 were due to fentanyl. That number has now spiked to 70 percent, Sheriff’s department officials said.
Additionally, in Orange County, there has been a 1,800-percent increase in fentanyl-related deaths since 2016, officials said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also spoke about the opioid crisis during last month’s meeting and said many of the deaths amongst the youth are from poisonings, not overdoses.
According to Spitzer, some teenagers have purchased drugs such as Xanax, Percocet, or Oxycontin laced with fentanyl and manufactured in China. He said fentanyl is being smuggled into the United States in large quantities across the Mexico border.
“The Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies have done an outstanding job in terms of intervention, but it’s getting through, and our kids are dying,” he said.
Spitzer also blamed California laws for preventing proper prosecution of drug dealers in the state.
Because of such laws, he said, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a drug dealer knew the substance they furnished resulting in a death contained fentanyl.
Under federal law, he said, it’s only required to prove fentanyl was involved, allowing prosecutors to issue sentences of 20 years to life for drug dealers.
“Because state law is so deficient, I have now designated a full-time prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and she is prosecuting these crimes, through federal law,” Spitzer said.
Spitzer told The Epoch Times in an interview last month the governor’s office should be doing more to prevent these crimes.
“The governor … should be demanding a group of bills relating to fentanyl prevention and prosecution, but he’s not,” he said. “I’m very upset at the state Legislature. They’re not doing nearly enough to fight the fentanyl epidemic.”
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