Stunning numbers show deadly fentanyl kills the equivalent of an entire class of children every day.
Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine, is ravaging America’s youth.
A recent study found that fentanyl was responsible for the deaths of 1,557 children in 2021 — the equivalent of 30 children a week.
Just two milligrams of fentanyl — imagine 10 to 15 grains of table salt — can prove fatal, and it’s increasingly polluting the illicit drug supply in the US because it’s cheap and potent, keeping many users coming back for more to drink.
In 1999, about 5 percent of the 175 opioid-related deaths were due to fentanyl. As of 2021, 1,557 (94 percent) of the 1,657 opioid-related deaths were attributed to fentanyl
In the US, the number of deaths caused by fentanyl increased sharply in the 2010s. At the beginning of the decade, 2,666 Americans died from a fentanyl overdose. That number rose to 19,413 by 2016. Covid made the situation worse with a record 72,484 deaths in 2021
Drug overdoses are now the third leading cause of death among children every year, behind gun violence and car accidents.
The nationwide drug overdose crisis has hit everyone: Last year, a record 107,622 Americans died from a drug overdose. More than 70 percent of deaths were caused by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
The number of overdose deaths caused by fentanyl far exceeds the number of deaths caused by other drugs, including benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and prescription drugs.
A report published in JAMA last year showed that fatal overdoses caused by benzodiazepines increased by about seven percent from 2010 to 2021, while deaths caused by cocaine, prescription opioids and heroin fell.
dr Julie Gaither, a pediatrician at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, wrote in JAMA Pediatrics: “Consistent with trends observed in adults, the number of pediatric fentanyl-related deaths began to increase significantly in 2013, resulting in a more than 30-fold increase increase.” mortality between 2013 and 2021.
“An increase that began in 2018 has resulted in a nearly three-fold increase in deaths among older adolescents and a nearly six-fold increase among children under five.”
Overall, there were 13,861 opioid-related deaths among youth under the age of 20, of which 5,194 — nearly 38 percent — involved fentanyl.
The vast majority of these deaths, almost 90 percent, occurred in teenagers aged 15 to 19, while two percent occurred in infants under one year old and 4.6 percent in toddlers aged one to four.
It was revealed last month that a 19-month-old girl died of fentanyl poisoning in 2021 while she and her parents were staying at an Airbnb in Florida.
It’s not clear how the child got access to fentanyl, but the parents, in a wrongful death suit against the company, claimed the property was a known party house, despite being advertised as a “peaceful abode.”
Fentanyl has devastated American cities and communities of all sizes. A recent government report shows fatal overdoses of the synthetic opioid more than tripled from 2016 to 2021, rising from 5.7 per 100,000 in 2016 to 21.6 in 2021.
San Francisco, the West Coast epicenter of the fentanyl crisis, saw a staggering 41 percent increase in drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.
Data from the city’s coroner shows that 200 people died from overdoses between January and March, compared to 142 deaths in 2022. That’s one overdose death every 10 hours.
San Francisco saw a staggering 41 percent increase in drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023
People openly smoke drugs on the sidewalk in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, where overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent months
Pediatricians urge parents to keep their children away from drugs, particularly fentanyl, as much as possible, and to be honest and open with their children about the threat of opioids.
dr Scott Hadland, an addiction specialist at Mass General for Children Hospital in Boston, suggested that caregivers should ask teens what they know about fentanyl, whether peers are using drugs or if anyone they know has overdosed and if they know how to react to fentanyl overdose.
“Don’t try to scare teenagers.” Play to their strengths. Equip them with the knowledge and the power to stay safe,” he said called.
dr Hadland and countless other physicians have urged the public to ensure that naloxone is a standard ingredient in their medicine chest.
The Food and Drug Administration, the main federal drug agency, has taken steps to make the reversal drug, specifically the nasal spray marketed as Narcan, available without a prescription and without visiting a pharmacy.
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, meaning it binds to opioid receptors and rapidly reverses the effects of opioids. Symptoms may include a slow heart rate, low blood pressure, loss of consciousness, slow or shallow breathing, gurgling noises, bruising of the lips or nails, and vomiting.
The antidote can reverse an overdose in minutes, but lasts at most about 90 minutes, meaning someone can still overdose even after the effects of naloxone have worn off.
Also, some opioids may require more than one dose of naloxone to counteract the effects.
Narcan is already available without a prescription in all 50 states, where state leaders have given pharmacists standing orders to sell the drug to anyone who asks for it.
But not all pharmacies carry it and those that do have to keep it behind the counter. And while a doctor’s prescription isn’t required, many people are reluctant to visit a pharmacist for the drug because of the stigma attached to substance abuse.
dr Hadland said, “Most teens who overdose die at home when someone else is there to react.” But most teens who die never get narcan and are pulseless by the time emergency services arrive.”
The FDA’s recognition paves the way for the antidote to be more accessible in vending gas stations than ever before.
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