BELTSVILLE, Md. — As opioid overdoses continue to persist among children in the D.C. region, some local school districts are holding meetings to address the problem.
On Tuesday, at High Point High School, in the Prince George’s County community of Beltsville, Prince George’s County police officers and school officials will hold a community meeting to discuss the issue from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Prince George’s County Police officers and school officials plan to provide locals Narcan kits. They will also talk to families about the dangers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and other illegal drugs.
Arlington Public Schools officials will also hold a special board meeting, at 6:30 pm, to discuss the scourge of opioid use in their Virginia county the same evening. The meeting, which will take place at the Syphax Education Center at 2110 Washington Blvd., will focus on how to increase education about opioid use.
The two meetings came after several local students succumbed to opioid overdoses in the D.C. region over the last two months.
Last week, a Wakefield High School student, in Arlington County, named Sergio Flores, reportedly overdosed in a campus bathroom. He later died.
Prince George’s County Commander Chad Schmick serves as the commander for the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Narcotic Enforcement Division.
He said his department made a concerted effort to bring attention to the issue of student opioid overdoses just before holiday break.
Still, Schmick said the problem continues to get worse.
He said stories about teens being transported to the hospital or having to be administered Narcan are not dissuading others from using illegal substances.
“Even with this increased effort, the incidents are still happening,” Schmick said. “And they’re happening in the same schools.”
But, Schmick said providing the proper messaging to students is key.
“Our message now, still is, if you get any kind of [substance] through the black market, not through a medical professional and not through a guardian, assume that it’s poison,” he said.
PGPD is still working to encourage people to get Narcan training too. Schmick said the process does not take very long.
“The only way we can get in front of this thing is we first have to save a life,” he said.
The Chris Atwood Foundation, based in Fairfax County, is a support services group that consists of members who are either in recovery or family members who have loved ones who are in recovery.
CAF Program Director Shelly Young said her organization is happy more people are having conversation about opioid use in public. However, she said some people are still uncomfortable speaking about the topic, which makes their preventative efforts harder.
“It makes it challenging to interact with families, to interact with kids,” Young said.
She said some families are in denial that anything related to drugs could touch their family. She said that is not a solution to the problem.
“If we want to prevent it, we have to talk about it,” Young said.
She said now is the perfect time to talk about the issue with loved ones.
“To say ‘Hey, I saw something on the news about this,’” she said. "'I trust you to take care of yourself and be careful.'"