LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles public schools will stock campuses with the overdose reversal drug naloxone in the aftermath of a student's death at Bernstein High School, putting the nation's second-largest school system on the leading edge of a strategy increasingly favored by public health experts.
The move, which will affect some 1,400 elementary, middle and high schools, is part of the district's newly expanded anti-drug strategy, quickly assembled in response to student overdoses. Officials on Thursday said nine students have overdosed across the district in recent weeks, including seven linked to the Bernstein campus and Hollywood High School. The response plans also will include expanded parent outreach and peer counseling.
The death of 15-year-old Melanie Ramos, who died in a school bathroom last week after ingesting a pill that she bought from another student, has left the campus community reeling and touched off concern among parents throughout the 430,000-student district. The pill contained fentanyl, an opioid that is deadly in small doses.
