{"id":2459,"date":"2024-05-22T00:59:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T00:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcysapc.org\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2024-05-26T00:59:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T00:59:57","slug":"fentanyl-is-fueling-a-record-number-of-youth-deaths-and-the-new-trend-is-shocking-many-pediatricians-unprepared-to-provide-counseling-on-opioid-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcysapc.org\/?p=2459","title":{"rendered":"Fentanyl is fueling a record number of youth deaths a trend shocking many pediatricians who are unprepared to provide counseling on opioid addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Fentanyl, a pervasive killer in America\u2019s illicit drug supply<\/a>, is increasingly landing in the hands of teens across the region and nation, worrying providers who say treatment options for youths are limited. Across the country, fentanyl has largely fueled a more than doubling of overdose deaths among children ages 12 to 17 since the start of the pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fatal overdoses in D.C., Maryland and Virginia are in keeping with the national increase in opioid fatalities, which until recently primarily claimed the lives of adults. In 2022, 45 teens succumbed to opioids locally, a number roughly equal to the previous three years combined, data show. And incomplete data for 2023 show no sign of the crisis abating in young people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Physicians at area hospitals report a rise <\/b>in young people who took opioids <\/b>arriving to emergency rooms and local addiction specialists say the number of teens seeking help for opioid use is spiking \u2014 especially among Latinos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The surge, experts said, reflects a collision between adolescents\u2019 natural drive to experiment, <\/b>a decline in teen mental health and an increase in the availability and potency of counterfeit pills that mimic the appearance of prescription medications, making the experimentation that is a hallmark of adolescence more dangerous. <\/b>A single pill containing fentanyl can be lethal, and those who survive often need <\/b>comprehensive addiction care that clinicians say isn\u2019t widely available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou had this really, really disastrous combination of a dangerous drug supply with teens who were increasingly struggling,\u201d said Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Mass General for Children and Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Many pediatricians surveyed nationwide report feeling underprepared to counsel patients on opioid use, Hadland and his co-authors found in an analysis of survey results<\/a>. As providers try to catch up and government agencies weigh how best to respond, many schools are stocking overdose reversal medication as recently recommended by the Biden administration and are working to teach<\/a> students and families about the dangers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Easy to get from friends or through social media, potent pills masquerading as prescription Percocet or oxycodone cost a few dollars each and seemed to flood the market as students reeling from the isolation and the trauma of the pandemic returned to school, treatment providers said in interviews.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Frequently sold online at $2 to $10 a piece, addiction specialists say, pills laced with fentanyl are hard to spot, easy to hide and can quickly lead to powerful dependencies \u2014 or worse.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to stay away from drugs once your body has a substance abuse disorder. The pump is primed. The brain wiring has been rewired,\u201d said Daniel Smith, director of addiction services at Mary\u2019s Center, a community health center that predominantly serves Spanish-speaking patients in D.C. and Maryland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Smith and Sivabalaji Kaliamurthy, a pediatric addictions specialist who runs the Children\u2019s National Hospital addictions clinic, have spent years treating young people addicted to marijuana or alcohol. In the summer of 2022, they saw a change that shocked them both: teens were seeking treatment for opioid dependency. Now they almost exclusively treat opioid use disorder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe did not anticipate this happening with teens. It kind of fell in our lap,\u201d Smith said, adding: \u201cBefore 2022, we had no kids ever [for that]. \u201cAll of this has come together when kids were coming back to school post covid,\u201d Kaliamurthy said.\u00a0 While White teens make up the largest share of adolescent opioid deaths nationally and locally, Black and Hispanic adolescents are now dying at a faster rate, CDC data show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Liseth\u2019s mother knew something was wrong in summer of 2022 when her teenage <\/b>daughter stopped cleaning her room and started smoking marijuana. Within months, Liseth lost weight, ate less, came home late and vomited often. Even while raising two other children and working, her mother could tell Liseth wasn\u2019t herself. The first doctor the Maryland family saw dismissed her concerns but when they ended up at the Children\u2019s National Hospital emergency department in Northwest <\/b>Washington last year, Liseth admitted she was using fentanyl. Treatment has been tough on Liseth, who was born in Virginia to Guatemalan parents and lives in a tidy suburban <\/b>home <\/b>in Maryland <\/b>filled with flowers and symbols of her family\u2019s <\/b>Catholic faith. There were relapses, disappearances, a 911 call and a stay at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington. Her mom considered moving the family back to Guatemala.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kaliamurthy, Liseth\u2019s doctor, advised them to stay in the U.S. and started the girl on monthly injections of extended-release buprenorphine<\/a>, a medication commonly used to treat opioid use disorder that blunts withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Finally, things are turning around. She is eating again, looking healthy and \u2014 unable to go to school where drugs are ubiquitous \u2014 ready to start a GED program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What should parents do if they discover their children are using opioids?<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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