Kansas

Representative Davids, Kansas school leaders discuss “fentanyl crisis” ahead of school year

Published

on


KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As families prepare to send kids back to school, districts and area leaders are focused on fentanyl.

Last year, Ethan Everly, a sophomore at Oak Park High School, died after taking a pill that was laced with fentanyl.

Unfortunately, Ethan is not the only teen who has died in our community, from a fentanyl overdose.

Schools across our area, including Kearney High School and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, have Narcan on hand to stop a potential overdose.

Advertisement

However, leaders say the solutions can’t stop there.

They met Tuesday to discuss solutions for the upcoming school year.

“This isn’t about punishment, this is about how do we keep kids safe, how do we keep parents safe,” said Kansas Representative Sharice Davids.

She met with other leaders at Shawnee Mission West Tuesday.

“How do we get to people earlier? How do we make sure people understand what the dangers are and how we can help each other? Too many of us have lost somebody. Too many of us have had to figure out how to help our friends or loved ones who are dealing with this,” Rep. Davids said.

Advertisement

That includes parents like Libby Davis who lost her son Cooper in August of 2021 to the drug.

“Our 16-year-old son Cooper, he and 3 friends decided to share 2 pills that they thought were prescription Percocet pills and they were not and Cooper did not survive that day. He had taken half of a fake pill and it ended his life,” Davis said. “We have pretty much been on a mission since day 1 to make sure that Cooper’s death is not in vain and that something good comes out of our loss.”

Libby says she’s happy to see leaders trying to keep kids safe, but the conversations about the dangers of fentanyl start at home.

“I want it to be dinner conversations a lot so that they, those teenagers never forget when they go out and don’t get lost in the heat of the moment and just remember the lethality of what’s out there,” Davis said.

Congresswoman Sharice Davids agrees.

Advertisement

“Young people who think they are taking something that is not fentanyl and then they end up dying,” said Rep. Davids.

However, as the school year quickly approaches leaders and Libby Davis say they are happy to see educators working to keep kids safe.

“For these teenagers, we have to keep it top of mind. Their brains are still developing,” said Davis.

“We’re just trying to save lives here,” said Rep. Davids.





Source link

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Exit mobile version