The number of adolescents, aged 14 to 18, who died from an overdose doubled in 2020. That number increased even more in 2021 to 1,150 teen deaths. According to Joseph Friedman, a UCLA researcher and lead author of a report that was published earlier this year in JAMA, that spike was the greatest increase in teen overdose deaths in recorded history. In the last two years in California, 400 teens died from drug overdoses. But this is what’s important: Friedman says the rate of teen drug use has actually fallen. It’s just gotten gotten a lot more dangerous, largely because of the spread of counterfeit pills.
It was the greatest increase in the drug death rate among teens in recorded history, said lead author Joseph Friedman, an addiction researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Friedman, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate, said the increase is due to drugs becoming more dangerous, rather than to drug use becoming more common.
“The increases are almost entirely due to illicit fentanyls, which are increasingly found in counterfeit pills,” he said. “These counterfeit pills are spreading across the nation, and teens may not realize they are dangerous.”
For the study, which is published in JAMA, researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database to calculate the number of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 adolescents ages 14 to 18 from January 2010 to June 2021.
The researchers used the CDC WONDER (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research) database to calculate drug overdose deaths per 100,000 population for adolescents aged 14 to 18 years that occurred from January 2010 to June 2021.
They found 518 deaths, or a rate of 2.4 per 100,000, among adolescents in 2010, and a steady rate of 492 deaths (2.36 per 100,000) each subsequent year through 2019. In 2020, there was a sharp increase to 954 deaths (4.57 per 100,000), rising to 1,146 deaths (5.49 per 100,000) in early 2021.
Broken down by ethnicity and race:
- Among American Indian/Alaska Natives, there were 11 deaths (4.86 per 100,000) in 2010, 14 (6.88) through 2019, 16 (7.87) in 2020, and 24 (11.79) in 2021
- Among Black/African Americans, the numbers rose to 24 (0.70) in 2010, 46 (1.49) through 2019, 114 (3.69) in 2020, and 96 (3.10) in 2021
- Among Latinos, they were 62 (1.38) in 2010, 136 (2.68) through 2019, 276 (5.35) in 2020, and 354 (6.98) in 2021
- Among whites, they were 412 (3.32) in 2010, 281 (2.50) through 2019, 521 (4.67) in 2020, and 604 (5.36) in 2021.
A small number of individuals were from racial/ethnic groups that were not listed in the paper, or simply had missing racial/ethnicity details, which accounts for the discrepancy between the totals for deaths and rates and the racial/ethnic breakdown.
Fake versions of prescription drugs such as Xanax, Percocet and Vicodin, whose strength can fluctuate, also contributed toward the increase in overdose deaths, Friedman noted.
“Teens urgently need to be informed about this rising danger,” Friedman said. “Accurate information about the risk of drugs needs to be presented in schools. Teens need to know that pills and powders are the highest risk for overdose, as they are most likely to contain illicit fentanyls. Pills and powders can be tested for the presence of fentanyls using testing strips, which are becoming more widely available.”
In addition, education and access to naloxone, which can reverse overdoses, are needed in schools and places frequented by teens, he said.
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