In August 2020, one of my closest friends died from a drug overdose. He was 21. When I heard the news, I was in shock; I had just moved to Arizona from California and had not seen him in a long time, but we still kept in contact. While it’s a hard thing to talk about, given how widespread the drug epidemic is, I know I’m not the only one facing this kind of grief.
And in recent years, the epidemic has hit teens especially hard.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths among teens ages 15-19 doubled from 2019-2020. The CDC blames the rise, in part, on declining mental health among young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many young people struggled with feelings of depression during long quarantines, as they felt isolated from their peers and missed attending school and connecting with other people. I was a high school senior at the height of the pandemic, which meant I missed out on basic rites of passage like prom and graduation. It was a hard time for me, and so I understand why other young people struggled as well.
Experts have made the connection between deteriorating mental health among young people and the rise in drug abuse and addiction. And this all comes at the same time that drugs have become more deadly.
One of the most dangerous drugs on the market today is fentanyl, particularly because of how lethal it is. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid more powerful than morphine that is often mixed with other substances by drug dealers.
The Drug Enforcement Agency says in 2022 it seized enough fentanyl to “provide a lethal dose to every American.” Alarmingly, the DEA reported that most of the fentanyl it seized was in the form of counterfeit prescription pills — which means people may think they’re buying something else when they’re actually purchasing fentanyl. They also have no way of knowing how high a dose they’re getting.
Emily Einstein, chief of the Science Policy Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said these counterfeit pills are extremely dangerous.
“So these pills are pressed to look like prescription medications like oxycodone or Xanax, and they look very similar to the original but they contain fentanyl,” she said.
While the drug epidemic has spread across the country, there are many people who are trying to fight back. That includes Brandi Jordan, director of Rise Up! Glendale, a group of concerned Arizonans who are trying to educate the public and stop kids from abusing drugs.
Jordan has family members who have dealt with drug addiction and she felt the need to step in to help in any way she could. She’s also a teacher, so she has seen firsthand the effects of drug abuse on teens — and what leads them to use drugs in the first place.
“Many use to cope with emotional stress, pain or an untreated mental health problem,” Jordan said. “For many of these teens, it’s a form of self-medicating. Stress can come from school, life, family members.”
This is nothing new, but what is new is how potent drugs are today, and how fentanyl and other addictive drugs are being disguised as prescription drugs. This can be especially dangerous for teens.
“These pills are deadly and dangerous,” Jordan said. “It’s kind of like making chocolate chip cookies. Some cookies may have more chocolate chips than others. In this case some of the pills may have a lot more fentanyl than others, but the person using the pill would have no idea if the pill they are taking has a lot or a little fentanyl.”
Losing a loved one to an overdose is extremely difficult, and I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this grief. If the current epidemic is not stopped, fentanyl will continue to cut lives short and devastate communities. Government agencies have been slow to address these threats, but are ramping up efforts to prevent more counterfeit pills from reaching students.
Even so, we all have a responsibility for those closest to us. Start conversations around recreational drug use, and the risks associated with taking pills of unknown origin and quality. If you have been touched by the fentanyl epidemic, reach out to local elected officials — communicate the reality of the situation. Finally, educate yourself on overdose prevention, and what can be done if you witness a drug-related medical emergency. Additional resources can be found at the DEA’s fentanyl awareness page.