Awareness of Adolescent Overdose Deaths Is Vital to Save Young Lives

In our country, our most precious resource is our youth. In a few decades, they will be raising the next generation, running our companies and legislating new laws. It is the job of today’s adults to ensure that youth can avoid the most serious threats to health and life. The deadliest threat to youth may be the threat of fatal drug overdoses, Both the media and parents seem unaware of this ever-present danger.

Here is the magnitude of this threat to our youth:

Every week, an average of 22 adolescents ages 14 to 18 die due to drug overdoses.

This is the equivalent of losing a whole high school classroom full of students every week of the year.

A Growing Statistic of Loss

Overdose losses in this age group more than doubled between 2019 and 2020. This is despite the fact that drug use in this age group has declined considerably in recent years.

What’s the reason for this apparent contradiction? The number of counterfeit pills on the illicit market that contain lethal doses of fentanyl.

 

As reported by the Drug Enforcement Administration, seven out of ten counterfeit pills on the illicit market in 2023 contained a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl.

Youth who wanted to abuse a drug like Vicodin, Lortab, Percocet, oxycodone, or other opioid painkiller may have thought they could buy one of these pharmaceutical products from a drug dealer. Or maybe a friend offered them a few pills for free. The fact is that if they obtained a pill from anyone other than a pharmacist, it was likely to be a counterfeit containing illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

Where Is the Fentanyl Coming From?

Foreign chemical and pharmaceutical companies have established alliances with international criminal organizations to facilitate the production of fentanyl. The foreign companies ship the precursor chemicals needed to make fentanyl and other drugs to either the U.S. or Mexico where the substances are turned into one of the many kinds of fentanyl being trafficked in this country. When a person is not accustomed to consuming opioids, it may only require 2 milligrams of fentanyl (equal to a few grains of salt) to kill a person.

This deadly industry took root in America in 2013. Fentanyl began to be trafficked in America, largely mixed with powdered heroin and other drugs. Gradually, these drug traffickers got creative and started pressing fentanyl into counterfeit pills.

Overdose deaths quickly began to climb. By April 2021, we were losing more than 100,000 Americans every year to drug overdoses, with the majority being lost to fentanyl. For comparison, in January 2015, the number of annual overdose deaths was less than half that figure.

 

The trafficking of illicit fentanyl is now well-established. The National Institutes of Health reported that in 2023, more than 115 million counterfeit pills containing fentanyl were seized by law enforcement. Again, for comparison, fewer than 50,000 pills were seized in 2017. It’s no wonder that youth seeking pills to abuse are inadvertently getting their hands on deadly doses.

Where Are We Losing the Most Youth?

Researchers at UCLA calculated where in the U.S. we have been losing the most youth. Between 2020 and 2022, the top states were:

• Arizona
• Colorado
• Washington State

There are nineteen counties with adolescent death rates higher than the national average:

• Maricopa County, Arizona
• Los Angeles County, California
• Orange County, California
• Cook County, Illinois
• San Bernardino County, California
• King County, Washington
• Riverside County, California
• San Diego County, California
• Tarrant County, Texas
• Clark County, Nevada
• Kern County, California
• Pima County, Arizona
• Adams County, Colorado
• Denver County, Colorado
• Jackson County, Missouri
• Santa Clara County, California
• Bernalillo County, New Mexico
• Davidson County, Tennessee
• Marion County, Indiana

How Many of Our Youth Are Abusing Opioid Painkillers?

If a young person has ever misused a prescription drug or if they have a habit of doing so, they are in danger of getting their hands on and consuming one of these counterfeit pills. According to the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than a quarter million adolescents aged 12 to 17 struggled with a prescription pain reliever use disorder in 2022. That means that they were taking enough of these drugs to harm their health and their lives.

These youth are in the most vulnerable position. If they are not able to find a legitimate pharmaceutical product when they need one, they may try to find one on the illicit market.

Preventing Opioid Painkiller Abuse Among Teens

Parents should be aware that teens are often introduced to opioid painkillers when they have their tonsils removed or have wisdom teeth extracted. An athletic injury can also result in a teen going home with a bottle of opioid pain relievers. The young person may enjoy the warm, fuzzy effects of the opioids and go looking for pills when life becomes challenging at a later date. An upset, loss, bad breakup, or failure of some type and the teen may want to experience that vague, mellow feeling again.

If pills are available in the home, the youth may find them and misuse them. If the pills are locked up in the home (as they should be), the teen may ask friends or a drug dealer for pills. That is the moment when they are risking death or serious injury.

Here are steps parents and other adults can take to protect our youth:

1. Always dispense opioid painkillers (or other medications) to youth as needed to be taken, exactly per the doctor’s instructions. Never leave the young person with the whole supply or trust them to administer the pills on the proper schedule.
   
   
2. Lock up prescriptions with abuse potential when they are not in immediate use. This would include opioid pain relievers, stimulants, tranquilizers, sedatives and muscle relaxers. Even if children in that household can be trusted, other young visitors or even workmen in the home may be looking for pills.
   
   
3. Ensure that youth have a thorough understanding that any pill, anywhere, could contain a fatal dose of fentanyl. This even includes pills offered in those orange pharmacy bottles. The person offering the pills may not even know that they are counterfeit.
   
   
4. Youth should know that legitimate pharmaceutical products also can and do cause fatal overdoses.
   
   
5. Parents, caregivers and others in charge of youth should be very clear in their expectations that their child must avoid the use of any illicit drugs at any time or the use of any alcohol before they are 21 years of age. This is the only way the child can be safe.
   
   
6. Parents and others in charge of youth should help the youth develop a definite plan they are comfortable with that enables them to avoid yielding to peer pressure. Remember that peer pressure may be as subtle as a young person wanting to fit in or wanting to avoid criticism from their friends.

The loss of these young lives to opioid overdoses is tragic and completely unnecessary. It is vital for parents, teachers, coaches and communities to work together to save these young lives.

Sources:

• About 22 high school age adolescents died each week from overdoses in 2022, driven by fentanyl-laced prescription pills. UCLA Health, 2024. UCLA Health

• One pill can kill. Drug Enforcement Administration, 2024. DEA

• Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 2024. CDC

• Over 115 million pills containing illicit fentanyl seized by law enforcement in 2023. National Institutes of Health, 2024. NIH

• Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2023 (page 36). SAMHSA