Berkeley Schools Allows Staff To Administer Drugs To Prevent Opioid Overdoses

By Tom Gantert | The Center Square, The Center Square California

March 20, 2023

(The Center Square) - Berkeley Public Schools in California has modified its policy on administering of drugs to students to prevent opioid overdoses.

The change to the school policy on administering of drugs was recommended at its March 8 meeting and approved unanimously.

The district policy also allows for school staff to make naloxone hydrochloride or another "opioid antagonist" available "for emergency medical aid to any person suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an opioid overdose, to be administered by school personnel."

The district cited the state of California's 2023-24 K-12 Education Omnibus Trailer Bill included $100 million with $3.5 million ongoing to "provide at least two doses of naloxone/other reversal treatments to all California middle and high schools."

"The current policy already allowed for the use of medicinal marijuana on its campus although not in smokeable or vapable form," according to district documents. Medicinal marijuana is also available in edible, lotion and drink forms.

"In 2019, the state of California passed a law that starting in 2020 allowed school districts to decide whether medical marijuana could be administered on school grounds," according to Cal State University-Long Beach's Legal Resource Center.

The Berkeley school policy states that a parent has to give a school official a "valid written medical recommendation" for the student to be given medicinal cannabis with the parent administering the drug. The parent then has to remove any remaining drug from the campus.

" ... the Board recognizes that, in limited situations, research supports the use of medical cannabis for treatment of certain serious medical conditions in emergency situations, including, but not limited to, for the treatment of certain epileptic seizures," the revised policy states.

The policy allows medical cannabis to be stored at the school and administered by school personnel to the student, in emergency situations if certain conditions are met.

Among the conditions are the student must have documentation of "a serious medical condition" by a licensed physician, the parent must sign a release, and the school personnel can only administer the medication on a voluntary basis. In addition, "the student’s Section 504 Plan or Individualized Education Plan (must) document the need for emergency administration of medical cannabis in order for the student to access their education."

The focus of the work of The Center Square California is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.