Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs partnering up to prevent fentanyl overdose deaths

ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) – Between 2018 and 2022, more than a thousand people accidentally overdosed and died from fentanyl in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs is partnering with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, or DMH, to give the kids they work with access to more resources.

The partnership aims to reduce fatal overdoses in kids in the juvenile system.

Two Oklahoma teenagers involved with the juvenile system overdosed and died in December, part of a growing national trend.

“Kids involved with the juvenile justice system are at a higher risk of not only substance use but also substance misuse,” OJA Director of Behavioral Health Shel Millington said.

Because of that increased risk, the OJA’s group homes, transitional homes, and juvenile centers are receiving packages of Naloxone, a lifesaving drug that can stop and reverse an opioid overdose, and testing kits.

The DMH also trained OJA staff on how to use Naloxone and the test strips, and the dangers of fentanyl.

Part of why overdoses are increasing is because fentanyl is popping up more and more in street drugs-like cocaine, meth, fake pills and even weed.

“Young people and individuals at large may not know that fentanyl is in what they’re going to use,” Millington said.

Since 2021, the OKDMHSAS has given out of test strips and Naloxone, according to a press release.

But the program isn’t just for kids in the juvenile system.

Out of the 1,137 accidental fentanyl overdose deaths in a four-year span, 149 of them were children and adults younger than 24.

A warning sign that someone may be overdosing on fentanyl is if they pass out and can’t be woken up.

Anyone in Oklahoma can order Naloxone, also known as Narcan, and fentanyl test strips from their website okimready.org.

“The guidance has been to utilize the Narcan if there’s been a question or concern that there might have been a fentanyl overdose because the Narcan is not harmful,” Millington said.

If you don’t want to order it, there are also vending machines popping up around Oklahoma with the test strips and Naloxone inside. So far the only one in Southern Oklahoma is at the Durant library.

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