'This is a public health and safety crisis': Apex mayor aims to make Narcan more available in schools

February 14, 2016, is the day that changed Freida Knott MacDonald’s life forever.

“When I got the toxicology report that he died from Fentanyl. I didn't even know what Fentanyl was at the time other than it was something that was used in the hospital setting,” said Freida Knott MacDonald.

Her son, Michael, was 24 years old.

“He was in recovery,” Macdonald added. “But there was not a situation where Narcan could be used for him, and so he did pass away.”

From 2016 to 2024, a lot has changed.

Apex Mayor Jacques Gilbert is encouraging local and state leaders to consider providing the life-saving medication in Wake County Public Schools.

He’s among a few mayors and local officials who will speak at the House Select Committee on Substance Abuse this week.

In 2023, an average of nearly 12 people died each day in North Carolina from overdoses.

“This is a public health and safety crisis, and we have to take it seriously,” said Gilbert.

The Apex mayor has pushed for more help on a local level as substance abuse, opioid and fentanyl deaths are on the rise.

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His experience, not only as Mayor but previously as a School Resource Officer for seven years, brings a different perspective.

“Now we're facing so many different dangers with our youth. We got a lot of products that have THC, and then when you add Fentanyl to it, and they may not even know that Fentanyl is involved for a part of that product,” he said.

“It creates a significant risk for communities of public health and safety risks. So for me as an SRO, I did, unfortunately, have to work with parents to have those tragic deaths associated with those types of things, and it's getting worse,” Gilbert added.

Data shows that 85 of North Carolina's 115 school systems have Narcan on some campuses.

In the 2020-2021 school year, our most recent data, Narcan was used 14 times for suspected overdoses.

“We are the largest county in North Carolina, and we want our youth [to] be successful here. We want to put lifesaving resources in the hands of our teachers and other staff to make sure that if there's a medical emergency, we can react to it,” Gilbert said.

He’s asked for community input on the topic and received overwhelming support, but some people have concerns.

Opposition from some parents includes fear, the stigma of it all, and the amount of funds needed to train school staff to use it.

“Stigma is associated with many things. And I think it's just a matter of whether is this the right thing to do,” said Gilbert.

“When it comes to life-saving, we don't need to attach a value to it. We need to make sure that everyone has [an] opportunity to live in our community. So this is [an] opportunity to do that. Let's just work on saving lives and having schools have an opportunity to do that,” he added.

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“If we make a decision to not have something that can be a life-saving device for us, then if something does happen in our presence, and we don't have that capability to save that life, and we do lose that life. We're going to have to live with that for the rest of our lives,” she said.

She supports the idea of putting Narcan in local schools and educating students, teachers and staff about the medicine and drug misuse.

“If it is there, and we can have the opportunity to save a life and to be there for a person, then that is something I believe everyone can live with. We can say no matter the outcome. We tried, we did what we could, and now this person has potentially hopefully another chance.”

Approaching the eighth anniversary of Michael’s death, MacDonald believes it’s a viable solution.

“The fear of ‘Okay, if we have this, will that make people feel more comfortable using because we can bring them back?’ We need to ignore those kinds of thoughts because what we need to think about is how to save a life,” she added.

Mayor Gilbert will share thoughts on this topic and the responses to community input at the House Select Committee on Substance Abuse on Wednesday morning.