Drug overdose deaths among teenagers have doubled in the past two years, with fatal overdoses of fentanyl occurring at an even higher rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
The CDC claimed that teenage overdoses increased 109% between 2019-2021 and that deaths caused by fentanyl increased 182% based on overdose data from 32 states. Officials have warned that the fatal overdoses are most commonly caused by cocaine, Adderall, and Xanax that become laced with fentanyl.
In most cases, the deaths were accidental, officials noted. Teenagers purchased counterfeit drugs on social media that had unknowingly been laced with the opioid. Of the 1,871 fentanyl overdoses, 1,313 had occurred when it was mixed with a nonopioid drug, according to the study.
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