GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County parents and community members concerned about recent overdoses in public places including schools came together Wednesday for Narcan training to potentially save lives in the future.
In recent months in Lilburn, nine people overdosed on fentanyl-laced drugs outside of a bar and three students overdosed at Berkmar High School after unknowingly taking drugs laced with fentanyl.
Each person in these incidents received Narcan, according to authorities, which likely saved their lives.
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People who came to the Mountain Park Activity Building Wednesday evening received Narcan training and doses of the overdose reversal spray.
“It could happen to anybody,” Karen Ibanez, a parent of a Berkmar High School student said. “It could happen to me, or to my son.”
Ibanez told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson she cried when she learned three students at her son’s school had overdosed on campus.
She was eager to learn more about the nasal spray that’s now stored on Gwinnett County high school campuses for the first time this school year.
“I always hear about it, but I didn’t really know how to use it,” Ibanez said.
District officials say the three female students took drugs off campus and then felt the effects of fentanyl on campus.
State Representative Dr. Jasmine Clark and GNR Public Health invited the public to the event on Wednesday.
“Our Lilburn community has actually been rocked by a number of mass overdose events,” she said.
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She wanted to dismiss the notion that people who do not use drugs do not need to learn about how to administer Narcan or naloxone.
“You just might be that person that’s in the place where the Narcan is needed,” she said.
Fentanyl deaths are rising in Gwinnett County.
In 2022, 195 people died from the opioid.
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Dr. Audrey Arona with GNR Public Health says this year’s numbers are even more dire.
“We’re trying to flood our community with naloxone,” she said.
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