UCLA study: Overdose deaths among U.S. teens surged during the pandemic due to fentanyl-tainted pills

A study from UCLA found that the rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers nearly doubled in 2020, then went up again in the first half of 2021, compared with the decade before the pandemic.

Researchers say the alarming spike in overdose deaths over the course of the pandemic was not due to increased drug use, but more dangerous drugs, particularly fentanyl-tainted counterfeit pills, and is the first time in recorded history that the teen drug death rate has seen such an exponential rise.

"The increases are almost entirely due to illicit fentanyls, which are increasingly found in counterfeit pills," Dr. Joseph Friedman, the lead author of the study and a Ph.D. candidate at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said. "These counterfeit pills are spreading across the nation, and teens may not realize they are dangerous."

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, used the CDC data to calculate drug overdose deaths per 100,000 population for adolescents age 14 to 18 between January 2010 to June 2021. The researchers found 518 deaths, or a rate of 2.4 per 100,000, among teens in 2010, and a steady rate of 492 deaths (2.36 per 100,000) each of the following years through 2019.

In 2020, there was a sharp increase to 954 deaths (4.57 per 100,000), and that number jumped again to 1,146 deaths (5.49 per 100,000) in early 2021.

Fake versions of prescription drugs such as Xanax, Percocet and Vicodin, whose strength can fluctuate, also contributed toward the increase in overdose deaths, Friedman said.

"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.''

He said that education and access to naloxone, which can reverse overdoses, should also be more available in schools and other places frequented by teens.