I-Team: Opioid OD drug Narcan in Wake County middle schools

RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison is on the front edge of a national trend: outfitting School Resource Officers with Narcan, a drug that can counteract an opioid overdose.

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And in Wake County, that means SROs in 22 middle schools will soon be carrying the drug.

"It's sad that we've got to say it, but it's true. We're seeing drugs in middle schools," Harrison said.

He said he's got 60 units on order and will outfit his resource officers first when the shipment comes in.

"We're seeing a lot of pills and capsules coming from the parents' medicine chests. And that's why we preach, "Keep your drugs locked up," "Keep your drugs out of the reach of children, "If you have drugs that are old, turn them into us," Harrison said. "We have a drug drop box we put them in and dispose of them, but yes. We are seeing them in middle schools."

The Wake County Sheriff's Office isn't the only Triangle agency to put Narcan in schools. Capt. Chris Atack with the Carrboro Police Department said they've given it to SROs since 2014. SROs in Nash County carry Narcan as well.

Check here to see whether your local law enforcement agency, 1) provides SROs and, 2) provides them with Narcan.

"We're seeing more and more pure drugs coming into North Carolina," Harrison said. "We're seeing Fentanyl, which is a terrible, terrible drug that's being placed in a lot of the other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth.

"It is 10-50 times stronger than morphine," the sheriff added. "That's one of the main reasons we're giving it out. You can overdose on anything but now that the drugs are being laced by Fentanyl. if it gets in the wrong hands, it's just a terrible thing that we have to unfortunately have to look at. So we want to be prepared if it does get in the middle schools or high schools, we're hoping to have Narcan on hand so we can save a life."