All police officers in the DeKalb County School District’s force are equipped with Narcan, a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of opioid overdose, a school system spokesperson said after a student died following a medical emergency at school.
A Dunwoody High School student was given two doses of Narcan after she was found unresponsive in class on Monday, according to a police report about the incident. She later died. The next day, police arrested and charged a minor with involuntary manslaughter.
Family members suggested on social media that Mia Dieguez, 15, died after she purchased fentanyl-laced drugs from someone at the school. They were waiting for a toxicology report and have called for a thorough investigation. The school district spokesperson declined to comment on the allegation that drugs were involved. Several students, teachers and family members said that the sophomore occasionally used drugs, according to the police report.
All police officers in the state’s third-largest school system have been equipped with two packs of Narcan nasal spray to use in the case of a suspected opioid overdose. The medication is available for middle and high school students who may experience an opioid overdose while at school. The district is also in the process of training school nurses and school designees on how to administer the medication.
School district police officers in Atlanta Public Schools and the Fulton and Gwinnett school systems also carry opioid-reversal medication.
Naloxone, the generic name for opioid-reversal drugs, was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2015. Narcan was the first over-the-counter nasal spray approved by the agency in 2023. It’s a medicine with no abuse potential and can be administered by individuals with or without medical training, according to the FDA.
Opioid-reversal drugs are allowed to be stored in schools per a law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year. Even before that law passed, the DeKalb County School District updated its policies last year to allow school staff to administer the medication in emergencies.
Staff at one Gwinnett County high school administered the medication to three different students over two months in 2023. Each of the overdoses was believed to be caused by fentanyl. Gwinnett officials said at the time that they were working to get more Narcan in schools, but that the medication is available at each of the district’s high schools.
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