There were some frightening moments inside a Westchester County high school when a teenage student suddenly collapsed amid an overdose after smoking a weed vape pen that may have been laced with fentanyl.
The big scare took place inside New Rochelle High School earlier in the week, after a student went looking to get high.
The student took a "hit off a vape thinking it was marijuana. Suddenly became very disoriented, not feeling well," said New Rochelle Schools Superintendent Jonathan Raymond.
The student went to see the school nurses, who are trained to spot and treat possible opioid overdoses. They quickly administered Narcan to help the student, who was later hospitalized. The individual was released Monday night, and was back in school later in the week.
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School nurse Diane Vetrano was recognized at a parent workshop Tuesday night for the efforts of her and her team to save the teen's life. State educators are now sharing the experience, as the superintendent is fielding calls from other schools about training the district's nurses to use Narcan, which the schools have had since 2016.
"We’ve never had to use it. This was our first incident but it’s really important," Raymond said.
The school administrator is also issuing a warning about vape cartridges that could be laced with potentially lethal fentanyl.
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"To get the message out to our young people: You cannot try something off the street. It can be deadly," said Raymond.
In New York, college campuses are required to have Narcan on hand. Since 2014, the Westchester County Health Department has offered training on how to administer the potentially life-saving overdose medication.
But it has been a slow process to get legal weed off the ground, which has left dozens of cannabis growers (many upstate and in the Hudson Valley) in limbo. They’ve grown tons and tons of product, but had nowhere to sell it — until now.
