Sarasota school police officers will start carrying a Narcan mist called naloxone starting at the end of the month. The drug reverses the impacts of opioids.
“It’s very easy to use with training from a medical professional. If someone has overdosed it reverses the effects and they literally just wake up,” said Chief Paul Grohowski.
Grohowski said there haven’t been any overdoses in the schools, but he wants to be proactive.
“We have 50,000 students and staff that we service, I would be naive to think that we might not have an occurrence,” said Grohowski.
Gerri Stanhope lost her son and her grandson to drug overdoses. She believes it’s smart to have Narcan quickly available.
"You never know, I ran into someone a few years ago who was overdosed on the side of the road,” said Stanhope.
The district is getting the drug through a Department of Health grant.
