White House urges all US schools to stock overdose reversal drug naloxone

In March the FDA approved the sale of Narcan, a brand of naloxone, without a prescription, making it the first opioid reversal drug to be sold over the counter. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

The White House is urging all schools to carry the emergency overdose reversal drug naloxone and train students and faculty on how to administer it.

A letter from the US education department and the White House’s national drug control policy office, first obtained by Axios, urged schools to “focus on measures to prevent youth drug use and ensure that every school has naloxone and has prepared its students and faculty to use it.