Everyone has the power to save a life — and it starts with education. That’s the message of the Los Altos High School Fight Overdose Club, which aims to educate the community on how to prevent, recognize and treat drug overdoses. 

“The better educated we are, the better chance we have at keeping each other safe,” club secretary and freshman Shannon Chiang said. 

The club aims to reach as many people in the community as possible, particularly students.  

“There needs to be a bigger student and teenage influence in substance abuse education, because that’s where drug abuse starts, and that’s where it needs to be stopped,” co-president and senior Shannon McCabe said. 

The club will be hosting a schoolwide event from Monday, March 13 to Friday, March 17 that will include presentations about drug abuse and safety and training on how to properly administer the nasal spray Naloxone, a lifesaving treatment that can reverse the effects of a drug overdose. The club will also be providing resources such as Naloxone units. 

“Especially on our school campus, there should be no reason that somebody should overdose and have no one around who has the ability to help them out,”  co-president and senior Thomas Schumann said. 

To produce the event, the club will partner with End Overdose, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles that provides education, medical intervention and public awareness surrounding drug-related overdose. The organization started in Los Angeles schools, giving free presentations about drug abuse. Now, for the first time ever, they will be coming to the Bay Area to do an event at LAHS.

Fight Overdose will also be hosting a boba fundraiser today after school.