Overdose in youth: Get the facts The number of teenagers who died from drug overdose doubled in 2020. In 2019 and 2020, 84% of 10 to 19 year olds who died from overdose took illegally made fentanyl (IMF). They may not have even known that IMF was in the drugs.
What can you do? Know that drugs are cut with IMF, tranquilizers, meth, or other things way before they reach your friends or the other people you get drugs from. Fake pills are pressed to look like legit prescription pills. The safest thing is to not do drugs. If you do, never get high alone. Make sure someone has Narcan (the generic name is Naloxone). Narcan can reverse an opioid overdose, including one from IMF. Call 911 if someone overdoses. Because of Good Samaritan Laws, you will not be prosecuted if you stay with them and do not have a trafficking amount of drugs.
Sources
Learn more about IMF, the signs of overdose, and other resources on the reverse of this card UCLA Health (2022). Adolescent drug overdose deaths rose exponentially for the first time in history during the COVID pandemic. https://www.uclahealth.org/news/adolescent-drug-overdose-deaths-rose-exponentially-first Tanz LJ, Dinwiddie AT, Mattson CL, O’Donnell J, Davis NL. Drug Overdose Deaths Among Persons Aged 10–19 Years — United States, July 2019–December 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:1576–1582