Missouri lawmaker proposes bill mandating opioid overdose kits on college campuses

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

CONTENT WARNING: The video attached to this article contains graphic, potentially traumatizing content. Watch at your own risk.

One Columbia lawmaker is pushing for a bill that would require institutions of higher education to have opioid overdose rescue kits available for public use on campuses.

House Bill 1997 was proposed by state Rep. Doug Mann (D-Columbia) and would require colleges and universities to have items such as “Opioid Overdose Rescue Kit - Naloxone Nasal Spray”  in visible, and highly traveled areas on campus. 

Mann testified before the Missouri House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday. 

“I got the feeling during the hearing that the committee was on board conceptually with the idea. There were some questions about language like there is with any bill,” Mann said.

“Making sure that we are giving the departments that are going to provocate the rules around this enough guidance to make sure they are doing what we want them to do and that if this were to pass that it is rolled out properly,” Mann said. 

Mann says he was introduced to the idea at the end of the last session when a group of Mizzou students came to the capitol to advocate for a variety of issues. One of the issues they were passionate about was ensuring naloxone was readily available on campus. 

The University of Missouri is one of at least 18 colleges in the state with naloxone available. However, Mann says naloxone is typically located in places such as the health center. 

“If you were to were to come upon someone who has overdosed the fact that those are far away can add a pretty significant amount of time to the ability to get that person those doses of naloxone. Since you don’t know how long that person has been there that lapse of time could be the difference between a person living and dying,” Mann told ABC 17. “I think that it’s important that they are readily available to cut down kind of cut down that time in response.” 

Mann compared the overdose rescue kits to automated external defibrillators when asked where the kits would be placed across campus. He says the bill would require them to be placed in spots such as dormitories, student unions, or sporting venues. 

“What I have seen them look like in other places that have similar policies [are] they are in a plexiglass box kind of like you see with AEDs a lot of the time. Then you would have naloxone doses in the box along with other things that you might need,” Mann said. 

According to Mann, universities would have to cover the cost of the kits. However, he pointed out during Wednesday’s hearing that there are various ways universities can “tap into funding at the federal, state and local level” to defer that cost. One example is the state opioid response grants, which provide resources to states and territories for increasing access to FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder. 

Missouri received $458 million from an opioid settlement with Johnson and Johnson which Mann says can be used to help cover the cost. 

ABC 17 News asked Mann if he had any numbers to show how prevalent overdoses were on college campuses. He says most of the government overdose numbers are tracking age and other demographic numbers so he was unable to find specific numbers on how common they are.  However, he says there is a “decent” number of people on college campuses who report the use of recreational drugs and prescription drugs for non-medical use. 

“One of the things that we have seen over the last two years especially with fentanyl becoming more and more prevalent, is people not always necessarily intentionally using opioids but people using another type of drug that ends up being laced with fentanyl,” Mann said. 

One example he cited during the hearing was when two Ohio State students died in 2022 after taking Aderol that they didn’t know was laced with fentanyl. 

“I fully understand that overdoses on campus are less likely than overdoses in other places in society but if this bill saves even one life, I think the cost and the process is well worth it.” 

According to the Columbia Police Department, there were 13 fatal overdoses in Columbia last year, which was down from 2022 when there was 18. CPD says there were 20 suspected fatal overdoses in 2023, which matched the 2022 total.