Opioid deaths rose nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17, according to a study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
The study examined opioid deaths across the country from 2019 to 2022, as overdoses in this age group quadrupled during this time. The majority of overdoses for opioids, cocaine and methamphetamines involved fentanyl.
Use of illicit substances for adolescents, like alcohol, cannabis and tobacco is declining, Colin Planalp, a researcher at the Cannabis Research Center, said. The increase in overdoses is likely due to a change in the illicit drug market and making substances riskier to use.
Before the pandemic, most opioid deaths in the U.S. were among working-age adults, but this changed, Planalp said.
Planalp said the crisis of teen opioid deaths escalated quickly, jumping to the third leading cause of death in adolescents after firearms and car accidents.
Opioid deaths decreased overall in 2023 but did not decline in adolescents, according to the CDC.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies reported an increase in seizures of counterfeit medications, like OxyContin or Adderall, that often include fentanyl or other synthetic opioids that can be fatal in small amounts, Planalp said.
Teenagers historically get these medications from their friends and family, whether to use them recreationally or to treat a condition, Planalp said.
“People should be suspicious, the people shouldn’t trust these medications if you are not getting it with a prescription from a pharmacy,” Planalp said. “If it’s coming to you secondhand and it’s not coming directly from a pharmacy, I would be very suspicious about the safety of it.”
To help prevent overdoses on campus, Boynton Health started providing free naloxone kits, a nasal medication that quickly reverses overdoses, in five locations across campus on March 3.
The pickup locations are in Coffman Union, Appleby Hall, Boynton Health, the West Bank Skyway and the St. Paul Student Center, according to Boynton’s website.
The kits include naloxone, as well as instructions on how to administer the drug and information on how to recognize an overdose, Michelle Trumpy, Boynton’s Director of Public Health, said.
Trumpy said Boynton started looking for ways to combat opioid overdoses in 2022. Initially, the University hosted free naloxone training on campus in collaboration with the Steve Rummler HOPE Network, an organization dedicated to educating communities on overdose prevention.
More than 1,000 people attended the different training sessions, according to Trumpy.
Meghan Walsh, an overdose prevention specialist at the Steve Rummler HOPE Network, said the organization provides training sessions for community members to know how to identify an overdose and how to administer naloxone.
Naloxone should be administered through a small nozzle put inside the nose of a person experiencing an overdose, according to the Mayo Clinic.
According to the CDC, signs of an overdose include shallow breathing or gurgling noises from an unconscious person who cannot be awakened, discolored lips and fingernails and small pupils that do not react to light.
Boynton’s campus partners, such as University police officers and student workers providing 624-WALK and Gopher Chauffeur servicers, all carry naloxone, Trumpy said.
Boynton partnered with the Health Emergency Response Office (HERO) at the University to provide naloxone to students on East and West Bank and St. Paul campus, Trumpy said.
According to the 2024 College Student Health Survey Report, only 0.1% of students at the University reported using opioids, down from 0.2% in 2021.
“Access to supplies of nasal Naloxone has improved, public awareness has increased, and we knew the time was right to expand that low barrier access to naloxone on campus because we know our students go off campus,” Trumpy said. “The research is pretty clear that the more naloxone in the community, the more chance we have at saving lives from opioid overdoses.”
Trumpy said while the program, providing naloxone to students, started about two weeks ago, it is already successful. They distributed 200 kits despite one of those weeks being the University’s spring break.
