A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that 2022 will see a record number of high school teens overdose on the drug, due to an alarming trend driven primarily by fentanyl poisoning from counterfeit pills. died in large numbers.
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers in Boston found that an average of 22 young people between the ages of 14 and 18 will die from drug overdoses every week in the United States in 2022.
The study, titled “America's Youth Overdose Crisis,” found that drug overdose death rates among teens are more than double what they were in 2018.
According to the report, a total of 1,125 teens will die from drug overdose or poisoning in 2022, making it the third leading cause of death for teens in the U.S. after firearm-related injuries and motor vehicle accidents. It became.
“Fewer teens than ever are actively using drugs, yet more teens are dying than ever before,” said Dr. author Dr. Scott Hadland told FOX News. .
“It's not because drug use is becoming more common, it's because it's becoming more dangerous.”
In 2002, 21% of high school seniors said they had used illegal drugs other than marijuana in the previous year.
By 2022, that percentage had dropped to 8%.
Meanwhile, researchers have found that at least 75% of drug overdose deaths among adolescents are due to fentanyl poisoning.
As other studies have found, such poisonings primarily occur when teens accidentally take counterfeit pills containing lethal doses of synthetic opioids.
“It's clear that the problem started trickling down pre-COVID and then really accelerated during the pandemic,” Hadland told FOX.
“Teenagers have been isolated, unable to attend school or participate in normal activities, and we know that access to the health care system has become more difficult. .”
There is currently no sign that this trend is reversing or slowing down.
The study identified Arizona, Colorado, and Washington as hotspot states. There, from 2020 to 2022, the youth drug overdose death rate was nearly twice the national average.
Hotspot counties include Maricopa County, Arizona, and Los Angeles County, California, which had the highest number of overdose deaths (117 and 111, respectively).
In March 2021, 17-year-old Xavier Garcho died of fentanyl poisoning while playing basketball with a friend.
When Gurcho felt pain after playing, his friend offered to share some Percocet with him. After that, Gerchow fell asleep at his house and never woke up.
Garchow's friend was taken to the hospital and survived, but Garchow did not survive.
It turns out that Percocet is fake. It contained 99% fentanyl and 1% cocaine.
Xavier's sister, Madison Garchow, told Fox: “My friend was resistant to fentanyl, so the drug did not cause his death.” “But Xavier had a clean system, so he died within minutes.”
Experts recommend that parents discuss the dangers of counterfeit pills and keep naloxone or Narcan, an over-the-counter drug that can reverse an overdose, readily available at home.
Studies show that about two-thirds of teens who die from overdoses die at home.
“In many cases, health insurance will cover this at little or no out-of-pocket cost, so parents and teens should keep this in a central location in the home, just like a fire extinguisher. I recommend you keep it,” Hadland suggested.
While doctors recommend that parents emphasize not using drugs to their teens, they also encourage parents to openly discuss risk-reduction strategies for people experimenting with drugs.
“You can't use scare tactics…” [or] “If it's too dramatic, teens will be put off by it,” Hadland said. “Research shows that when we are overly dramatic, teens can end up doing the opposite of what we want them to do.”
Madison Gercho founded the X Foundation in honor of her only brother, Xavier.
The foundation aims to remove the stigma surrounding fentanyl addiction by raising awareness and providing education about the epidemic.
“I wish we had educated Xavier and ourselves and our friends,” Garchow said.
“If Narcan had been in our home, this could have been a very different reality.”
