Parents pack survival kits for college-bound kids — Narcan, Plan B included
Pencils, notebooks — and Narcan?
Concerned parents of incoming college freshmen are adding the life-saving nasal spray to back-to-school lists this year — along with condoms, Plan B and more modern must-haves that might have been unthinkable a generation ago.
And that’s just fine with students like Summer, 20, who said they prefer a matter-of-fact approach to the way campus life is lived now.
“I administered Narcan to a girl who was passed out on the front lawn of an off-campus frat party,” the psych major from North Carolina, who didn’t want to use her last name, told The Post. “It literally saves lives.”
Narcan, officially known as Naloxone, is an opioid antagonist that reverses the effects of illicit substances, such as fentanyl.
It’s a serious topic of discussion among older folks with chickadees poised to leave the nest.
From Facebook mom groups to viral TikTok clips, “college survival kits” with the miracle medication are all the rage — along with contraception pills and other grown-up adds.
Idaho mom Jamie, 42, and daughter Sophia Green, 18, recently made a big splash with a social media reveal of their list of nontraditional necessities for Sophia’s first day of classes at Boise State University this fall.
And while the 5.6 million viewers of their clip were largely supportive, digital detractors downed the trend, arguing that plying adolescents with the preventative products is “sad” and “embarrassing.”
One contrarian commenter even wrote, “Damn, teach your daughters common sense, resilience and willpower.”
Protesters of the ultra-progressive shift may rush to shame so-called “helicopter parents” for inadvertently giving teens the green light to experiment.
But Yamalis Diaz, an adolescent psychologist at NYU Langone Health, said cautious adults are neither overstepping boundaries with their kids — nor granting them permission to party.
Instead, they’re simply preparing the pups for real-world eventualities.
“Millennials and Gen Xers, who grew up in a very flexible, open-minded time, are now sending their Gen Z children off to college fully equipped to handle difficult situations,” Diaz told The Post.
“If parents choose to get Narcan or condoms for their kids, the message isn’t, ‘Here, go do drugs and have sex,’ ” she insisted. “The message is, ‘I don’t want you to get into any kind of tricky predicaments, but here are some tools that you can use to make smart choices after the fact.’ ”
It’s a message that youngsters need now more than ever, statistics show.
An alarming 50,000 teenagers confessed to misusing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in 2023, per a recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Researchers discovered a 47% spike in teen fentanyl use from 2022 to 2023. They attributed the startling uptick to the fact that many youngsters could have taken it without realizing.
Representatives for the Drug Enforcement Administration have deemed fentanyl, a Schedule I drug, the “leading cause of death for adults ages 18 to 45 in the US,” according to the DEA’s Campus Drug Prevention site.
Summer’s distressed schoolmate could have ended up just another statistic — but luckily, the quick thinker had taken an on-campus harm reduction seminar and knew what to do.
“She was super pale, her breathing was shallow and her pupils were pinpoint, which is a sign of overdose,” she recalled.
Now, she’s always prepared with a supply of the medication, which is available as an over-the-counter commodity at most nationwide drugstores and online outlets like Amazon, where it costs around $45.
“I always keep Narcan in my purse when I go to college events, parties and festivals — because you just never know,” she said. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
Maine mama Gretchen Schaefer, 50, who’s sending her daughter, Ingrid, 19, back to school with a stash of Narcan and Plan B, agrees.
In fact, the mother of two said she’s encouraging others with college kiddos to follow suit.
“The most common objection I hear is, ‘Well, my kid doesn’t hang out with drug users,’ ” said Schaefer, noting that Ingrid kicks it with the sober crowd at her school in Massachusetts. “But what if someone was slipped something and they have to reverse an overdose?”
The vigilant mom is also keen on reversing the effects of unprotected sex.
“In the case of sexual assault, I want her or someone on her dorm floor to have the Plan B on hand,” she added. “It was $6 at Costco.”
To ensure that Ingrid knows how and when to use all of the remedies in her “health kit,” Schaefer’s even created, printed and laminated an emoji-coded list of detailed instructions.
Schaefer’s medicine how-to prompts include, “Can’t poop? Take 2 SennaLax before bed,” and “Oops, condom broke? Take 1 Plan B ASAP after unprotected sex (within 72 hours).”
She’s not being overprotective; she’s simply passing the torch.
“I’m the Swiss Army knife mom,” said Schaefer. “I want her to be the Swiss Army knife roommate.”
Jamie Green wants her Sophia to gain a similar reputation around the dorms.
“It super important to be prepared,” Jamie, a social worker who’s also at Boise State pursuing a master’s degree, told The Post.
She hopes Sophia’s new crop of college friends feels comfortable turning to her for support when necessary.
“The Narcan and Plan B aren’t necessarily for Sophia, but they’re for anyone on campus in need,” said Jamie. “They can confidentially come to her and get help.”
Sophia, an aspiring OB/GYN, looks forward to being a safe haven over the next four years.
“My mom and I have always had a very open relationship, and it feels really great that she’s setting me up for success in case of any emergencies because s–t happens,” said Sophia. “It’s better to be prepared than keeping secrets, lying and maybe ending up in a worse situation.
“I’m glad other girls in my dorm will be able to trust me or my mom if they don’t have anyone else.”
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
