Fentanyl

Texas, including the capital city, was especially hard-hit by a wave fentanyl-related deaths in the past few years. But with the help of overdose-reversing drugs, things are looking better.

Democrat Alex Villalobos and Republican Anthony Hipolito are vying to become sheriff in the Nov. 5 election. KUT asked each candidate about school threats, the fentanyl crisis and law enforcement's presence on campus.

School breaks mean there is less help available in the case of an overdose, and families should stay alert.

But officials also said overdose-related calls appear to be slowing, partially because of the widespread distribution of Narcan.

The dashboard tracks fatalities related to the powerful, synthetic opioid dating back to 2014 and compares those to overall drug deaths in Texas.

With so many variables — like whether an overdose occurs on campus or after school — there's no way to know if Hays CISD is a hot spot or if other districts are just tracking differently and aren’t aware of a problem.

Drug deaths were up 35% in Travis County last year, an increase spurred in large part by a growing number of fentanyl-related overdoses.