California schools carrying Narcan as overdose-related deaths soar
Former California State Assembly candidate Roxanne Hoge joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss why Orange County schools are forced to carry the overdose-reversing drug and what has led to the surge in drug deaths.
A California mother is calling out the Biden administration over the nationwide drug crisis as 14 school districts in one county resort to carrying Narcan to prevent potential overdoses.
Former California State Assembly candidate Roxanne Hoge, R., joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss how a series of issues, ranging from school lockdowns to the border crisis, have forced Orange County schools to take action.
"It's a huge problem," Hoge told co-host Todd Piro. "It starts off with them being told, by the way, the last three years, you're useless, you're a vector of disease, and school isn't necessary, you're a grandma killer."
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"But even before that, the article, 'The Coddling of the American Mind' covered what was happening in colleges while it was happening in elementary and high schools, too, kids were being encouraged to really marinate in anxiety, in distress, in all the things that make us human, right? The stuff that makes you feel like you're weird, or you don't belong," she continued. "That's normal. Well, they were told to medicalize that and to numb that in some way… and that's how we ended up here."
According to the Orange County Health Care Agency, overdose deaths have climbed in recent years.
In 2019 there were 413 people who died from drug overdoses, another 648 in 2020, and 921 in 2021.
Laguna Beach Unified School District keeps doses of Narcan in each school's health office. This is the first year they are doing so. (Fox News)
Statewide, synthetic opioid overdose deaths have also climbed since 2019.
There were more than 1,400 deaths in 2019, and that number climbed to more than 7,000 in 2022, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
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Hoge pinpointed kids' mental health struggles and the crisis at the southern border as key issues forcing schools to carry the life-saving drug.
"Why are our kids… hurting and so empty inside that many of them do feel that they have to turn to self-medication? That's another question," Hoge said. "But absolutely, the border should be closed. And… it's a nonpartisan bill that Assemblyman Patterson brought forward to say, ‘hey, every school district in California should have Narcan on hand.’"
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, has been the only remedy to successfully reverse a drug overdose for more than five decades. And in recent years since opioid-related deaths have soared, police departments, schools, and other public places like libraries have resorted to keep the medication at their disposal.
Narcan comes in different forms, but the schools carry the nasal spray.
Hoge said school closures through the pandemic had a profound impact on students' mental health, while the Biden administration's border policies are to blame for the rise in fentanyl deaths.
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"I have a hard time seeing that they take anything seriously," Hoge said. "I'm an immigrant myself, and it is greatly offensive to me that border and sovereignty isn't the number one issue in this country."
Despite the dismal data, Hoge suggested Americans can reverse the dangerous trend by focusing in on what matters most - family and community.
"We get back to basics, we remember that family and community are the building blocks of America," Hoge said. "America has always been a high trust society, and it would be really great if we could get back to that."
Fox News' Ashley Soriano contributed to this report.