Wakefield High School Drug Overdose Incident: Student Revived With Narcan, Hospitalized In Critical Condition

An apparent drug overdose incident at a Virginia high school has left one student in critical condition.

The incident took place at Wakefield High School in Arlington County Tuesday morning. Arlington County Police responded to the campus after the boy was found unconscious in the school bathroom at around 9:30 a.m. ET.

School staff took measures to save the boy before responders arrived. Narcan was administered to the boy immediately. For the unversed, it is a prescription medicine used in emergency situations to treat suspected opioid overdose in unresponsive individuals.

The student was then taken to the hospital where he remained "in serious/critical condition" as of Wednesday, Arlington County Police said, as per ABC7.

Doctors reportedly evaluated four other students on campus. The Arlington Public Schools (APS) dismissed classes early that day.

"Due to a medical emergency and ongoing investigation at @WHSHappenings, students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. today, Jan. 31. All after-school and evening activities are canceled," APS said on its official Twitter page.

Neither the school nor the police department has revealed details regarding the nature of the drugs used. Police are investigating the situation as "an apparent drug overdose," WTOP reported.

Dr. Darrell Sampson, executive director of student services for APS, spoke about the importance of stocking Narcan at schools and training staff to administer it in emergency situations.

"We've trained all of our school nurses, and they have Narcan on them, or naloxone, and all of our school safety coordinators have also been trained and carry it. We've made a concerted effort in partnership with the Department of Health Services, to make sure we are providing those trainings," Sampson, who was part of the APS staff that responded to Wakefield's campus after the boy was found, said, according to ABC7.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure that lifesaving, potentially lifesaving treatment is in as many hands as possible in the schools but also in the communities as we possibly can," Sampson added.

Arlington County Department of Health Services held a special Narcan training session Wednesday evening.

In another incident involving drugs on educational institution premises, a 15-year-old girl was found unresponsive after an apparent fentanyl overdose at Bernstein High School in Los Angeles in September 2022. Emergency responders pronounced her dead on the scene, and another girl who had overdosed with her was hospitalized.