Wood County Prevention Coalition
Uniting For A Drug-Free Community Since 2004
Newsletter February 22, 2019 Vol. #5 Issue #3
CT Schools use new technology to combat vaping
MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) - Jonathan Law High School is using a new strategy to reduce vaping.
Principal Fran Thompson says, like in other schools, it has been a problem. Fran Thompson, principal at Jonathan Law High School said, "Jonathan Law is very typical of the high schools across Connecticut, and really across the country. We have students that are vaping and are becoming addicted to it. Though it's a small number in terms of that, it is a growing epidemic."
At Jonathan Law, bathrooms were hot spots for vaping.
Nicholas Hanna said, "You would always go into the bathroom and there would be a cloud of vape smoke."
Thompson said they put a sign-in policy in place and closed some bathrooms to curb the problem. Thompson said, "For me the concern is the long term health effects. While it's been going on for a while, it is relatively new and so there's not a lot of long term studies yet, but you don't have to be a scientist to know that this isn't good."
The high school is bringing in outside experts to educate students.
Hanna told NEWS8, "In school when you learn about it, it definitely turns people off through it, but they still have that habit that they have to kick."
Some schools are trying to combat the problem with brand new technology. This high-tech device called Fly Sense can detect vaping in schools.
Derek Peterson with Soter Technologies said, "The device is always analyzing air quality and categorize billions of air particles per minute and in a second it recognizes a vaping signature it will send it our virtually instantaneously."
Peterson said Fly Sense deters students from vaping in bathrooms and locker rooms. "We actually looked at various VOCs signatures in the air and when the device sees the vaping signature we then send the school or anybody on the subscriber list a text message and or an email message," said Peterson.
Thompson added, "Anytime you can have a system in place that will eliminate health risks like vaping, if it's cost effective then I think it makes a lot of sense."
FDA, Doctors Knew Fentanyl Was Overprescribed, Study Shows
By BRITTANY SHOOT FORTUNE
February 19, 2019
Regulators at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as physicians, pharmacists, and drug company representatives, all knew that existing safeguards were not stopping the illicit spread of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to research published in JAMA Network on Tuesday. This allowed people who should not have had access to the drug, which is 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine and often laced with or sold as heroin, to get it. Overall, the study authors concluded that 34.6% to 55.4% of those prescribed the drug should not have been.
The analysis was based on 4,877 pages of FDA documents that were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. As the Washington Postnotes, a FOIA request is an unusual aspect of this medical journal paper, which is more commonly based on a controlled study rather than qualitative analysis of records. But this study, which looks at how safeguards failed to keep the highly addictive painkiller from becoming widely available, shows the necessity for strict measures to keep the potent drug from the general public.
Fentanyl’s widespread use and misuse has been noted in recent months. In 2018, fentanyl was responsible for more than half of all overdose deaths, a striking uptick. The painkiller is so powerful, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) even issued new guidelines for first responders that might encounter a fentanyl-related overdose, noting they could be fatally exposed if they come in contact with even a tiny amount of the substance.
Legalize Pot? Amid Opioid Crisis, Some New Hampshire Leaders Say No Way
By Kate Taylor
Feb. 20, 2019 The New York Times
MANCHESTER, N.H. — The push to legalize recreational marijuana is sweeping the Northeast: Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine have done it, and the governors of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey say they want their states to do it, too.
But in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu and some other state leaders are opposed. The problem, they say, is not just about pot. It’s about opioids — drugs that have ripped across this state, devastating thousands of residents and leaving New Hampshire in recent years with one of the highest per capita death rates from opioid-related overdoses. After so many deaths, so much misery and so much state money spent fighting opioids, the opponents say, how could anyone even think about easing access to some other drug?
There is little consensus about a relationship between marijuana use and opioid addiction, and the debate in New Hampshire, where a key vote on the issue is expected this week, is tapping into a national discussion about whether marijuana is a gateway drug or something else entirely.
“When we are dealing with opioids as the single biggest health crisis this state has ever had, you are going to tell me legalizing more drugs is the answer?” Mr. Sununu said last fall. “Absolutely not.”
In New Hampshire, this is not primarily a partisan fight. Mr. Sununu is one of a handful of Republican governors in a part of the country where Democrats mostly control state capitals, but he is also part of a bipartisan group that sees New Hampshire’s uniquely ruinous opioid crisis as a cautionary tale. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, has expressed concerns about legalizing recreational marijuana and Senator Maggie Hassan, also a Democrat, says she is against it.
New England tends to embrace liberal policies on social issues, and this state, with its “Live Free or Die” motto, celebrates personal freedom and limited government.
Wood County Prevention Coalition Community Meeting
Friday, Mar 22, 2019, 08:30 AM
Wood County Educational Services, Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
About Us
Our Vision: Helping youth be drug-free, productive and responsible citizens.
Our Mission: We are a coalition of compassionate community members working together to coordinate high quality programs for the prevention of youth substance abuse in Wood County.
Email: mkarna@wcesc.org
Website: wcprevention.org
Location: 1867 Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: (419)-354-9010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPCoalition
Twitter: @woodpccoalition