Lawmakers have cleared the way for schools to add a new drug to nurses' medicine cabinets: overdose antidote naloxone. Beth Mattey, president of the National Association of School Nurses, said that school nurses are first responders in the school setting and availability of naloxone to them can save lives.

The National Association of School Nurses has encouraged schools to give nurses access to naloxone under their emergency response plans and drug prevention efforts.

The Illinois legislation has mainly authorized school nurses to administer the drug to anyone they think is probably suffering an opioid overdose, alike a nurse can use an epinephrine auto-injector for the treatment of a student suffering from a life-threatening allergic reaction.

However, some school districts in Lake County have said that they won't be stocking naloxone just yet.

Jim McKay, superintendent of Community High School District 117, serving Antioch, Lake Villa, Lindenhurst and Old Mill Creek said that his district had earlier planned to rely on police and paramedics, who already have naloxone. He added that with a new state law in place, the district would look again at the decision.

Officials at Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, Round Lake Area Schools Community Unit School District 116 and Warren Township High School District 121 have said that stocking naloxone discussions have only begun to get underway.

District 121 superintendent John Ahlgrim said, "We have many questions. The issue is a scary issue, but not one we're seeing much of. The question is whether people are seeing it to the point schools would feel like this is something we want to prepare for".