Samantha Siedow

Report for Minnesota

Supporters say two bills being considered in the Minnesota House and Senate could help significantly reduce the number of teens dying from opioid overdoses.

Minnesota is feeling the effects of a nationwide increase in opioid-involved overdoses after the emergence of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug 50 times stronger than heroin. Opioid poisoning rose to be the third highest cause of deaths in youth aged 13-17 over the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a 2024 University of Minnesota study. 

One bill would require school districts to allow high school students to carry and administer medicines used to counter the effects of opioid overdose if a parent or guardian gives written permission. Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is most widely used to reverse the effects of an overdose.

The other bill would change health education standards to include overdose recognition, prevention, and response education for students in grades 6 through 12.

Sofia Templos, an 18-year-old high school senior at the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley, said the two measures could save lives.

Templos was one of two students who wrote the health education amendment at a youth legislative summit in November.

Templos said the issue is close to her heart because her friend died from an opioid overdose two years ago, leaving her wondering what could have been done differently.

“It was big for me to turn my grief into something that could potentially change and save others’ lives,” Templos said. “Knowing that I didn’t just have to sit and sulk and think ‘oh, if I did this differently, it would have been different.’”

Templos said it isn’t enough just to tell people not to do drugs, as they become more widely available and the age people begin to use them becomes younger.

Educating young people on how to prevent, recognize and respond to overdoses is a more realistic way of reducing deaths, Templos said.

According to a 2018 study by Yale University, opioid-related deaths in 15-19 year-olds increased by almost 253% from 1999 to 2016.

Thomas Kottke, a former Mayo Clinic cardiologist of 40 years, said it’s important for people to realise that fentanyl-related overdose deaths are often accidental because the drug is unknowingly added to other recreational drugs or drinks.

“It just can happen that people get poisoned, through no fault of their own,” Kottke said. 

Kottke said giving other young people the knowledge and tools to respond to overdoses will save lives because kids typically aren’t using drugs around those in the best position to help them.  

“They don’t do it around police officers and physicians and other people, firefighters, others who are trained to recognize and treat overdoses,” Kottke said. “They do it around their friends.”

Naloxone and other opioid antagonists do not cause overdoses or produce a high. Supporters of the bill say there is no risk in allowing students to carry them.

Templos said lawmakers have been supportive when she has approached them, and she is hopeful bipartisan backing will help the bills pass.

“I cannot stress the importance of this within a short time period, but I can say that we do not have the luxury of pushing this aside any farther,” Templos said. “We must allow students to protect other students.” 

Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news in all areas of the state.