U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and several Colorado Springs school district administrators are scheduled to host a roundtable discussion Tuesday on fentanyl’s effects on youth and recent legislative efforts to combat the drug in schools.

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Lamborn will also speak on the Protecting Kids Against Fentanyl Act, a bill he and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse sponsored and re-introduced in July, that would allow states to tap into $146 million in federal Department of Health and Human Services funding to buy naloxone and other opioid antagonists, or medicines that can reverse the effects of an overdose, to have available in schools as well as provide related training and education for students and staff.

The bill was first introduced in September 2022.

“Educating students and providing lifesaving Narcan to schools will help us combat the Fentanyl crisis in our own communities,” Lamborn said on the bill’s web page.

The bill comes in light of increasing concern over teenagers’ access to the potent drug due to its resemblance to legitimate opioid tablets, such as those for oxycodone, and other prescription drugs through pill form.

Fentanyl, the bill sponsors said, is “powerful, easily made and easy to transport,” making it increasingly popular among narcotics traffickers today.

In El Paso County, fentanyl deaths are up from 21 in 2019 to roughly 120 so far in 2023, according to the bill’s web page.

The public is invited to attend the event at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the District 11 Central Office, located at 1115 N. El Paso St.

Visitors can park in the lot just north of the building’s main entrance off El Paso Street.

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Teens with addiction are often left to detox without medication