All incoming full-time students at Harford Community College, under a new policy approved Tuesday, will be required to attend heroin addiction and awareness training.

As reported by The Aegis,

The college will also have doses of Narcan on hand and its special police officers will know how to administer it, according to college officials.

“I thank God every day we have not had to respond in this way,” HCC President Dianna Phillips told the trustees during a meeting in Edgewood Hall Tuesday evening.

In response to the growing heroin and opioid epidemic across the state, the Maryland General Assembly passed bills in the House and the Senate during the 2017 session requiring community colleges to create a policy to address heroin and opioid addiction and prevention. Trustees approved the policy at Tuesday’s meeting.

According to the policy that goes into effect July 1, incoming full-time students will be required to participate in online or in-person heroin and opioid addiction and awareness training. The same information will be available for part-time students, but it will not be required. They will be provided with resources to alert and educate them on addiction and prevention.

As of Monday, there have been 195 heroin-related overdoses in Harford this year, and 41 of them have been fatal, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

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In addition to the training, HCC will maintain a supply of Narcan, the overdose reversing medication used in emergencies. In addition to being trained to administer the medication, HCC special police officers will be trained to recognize symptoms of an opioid overdose and to properly follow up on emergency procedures related to an opioid overdose.

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