BILLINGS — Montana Attorney General Attorney Austin Knudsen came to Billings on Sept. 6, 2024, to talk about a new program to put in high schools, life-saving Narcan kits, which combat fentanyl.
Billings Senior High School was the first in the state to receive the Narcan.
“Two grains of salt is about 2 milligrams,” said Knudsen, a Republican. "That is enough fentanyl to kill most adults in America."
Knudsen has given this talk and warning to thousands of students.
“If you come across somebody who's doubled over or lying on the ground, their lips are purple or blue and they're not breathing, that's most likely a fentanyl overdose,” Knudsen told two gym classes on Friday morning.
Knudsen's office is putting Narcan, also known as opioid-reversal kits, in Montana high schools, with the first going to Senior on Friday morning.
“It's in a little compressor that you put between your fingers with your thumb underneath it, you stick it up the person's nose and you push the button,” said Will Jansich, Montana Division of Criminal Investigations drug intelligence officer. “That is all it takes.”
Janisch warned about fentanyl and not to trust any pill that did not come from a pharmacy.
“You guys don't have the luxury that we had when we were your age,” Janisch said. “You can't trust any of the drugs that they give you to try to experiment with or to use recreationally because if you do, you can overdose the very first time you use it.”
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services reported93 deaths and 137 emergency department visits for fentanyl overdoses in 2023.
“And we refer to these deaths as poisonings and not overdoses,” said Voices For Awareness Facing Fentanyl executive director Andrea Thomas.
Thomas founded the organization after her daughter unknowingly took what she calls a counterfeit pill with fentanyl that she thought was her medication.
“We are losing every day to fentanyl poisoning,” Thomas said. “So the launch of these opioid reversal and school education kits into schools in Montana is huge.”
The DCI reports that in the last five years, the amount of fentanyl seized annually has increased 20,000%.
“Fentanyl has become our number one public safety threat in Montana, period,” Knudsen said.
“We are here to save lives,” said Dr. Erwin Garcia, Billings School District 2 superintendent. “We want to give you information pertinent to ways that we can use to support people that might overdose.”
