Opioid Overdoses Surge Among Young Kentuckians
Young people in Kentucky experienced the highest increase in drug overdose deaths last year, with overdose deaths growing by 90 percent, according to the state’s overdose fatality report released this month.
Landwebs
Young people in Kentucky experienced the highest increase in drug overdose deaths last year, according to the state’s overdose fatality report released this month. Although all age groups saw increases in mortality, people between the ages of 15 and 24 saw the highest jump: for people in that age group, overdose deaths grew by 90 percent, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. Although total overdose rates have increased by 95 percent since 2010, by 2018 those numbers were beginning to decline. Then, the pandemic hit, presenting a slew of challenges for young Kentuckians, some of whom have turned to drugs to cope. “They’re already dealing with a lot of uncertainty and just figuring out life,” said Julie Duvall, CEO of Adult and Teen Challenge of Kentucky. “Their peer groups are so important to them and all of that has kind of been disrupted.”
As drug overdoses increased during the pandemic, accessing treatment became even more difficult. For young people, as overdose deaths jumped by 90 percent, emergency room visits increased by only 10.5 percent. In addition to staffing shortages and underfunded facilities, restrictions and closures during the pandemic made the process of finding an open bed at a recovery facility challenging. Amid the public health crisis, fentanyl, a much more fatal substance than heroin, has continued to gain ground as the most prominent opioid. Fentanyl was detected in approximately 71 percent of all overdose deaths in Kentucky last year. In the United States, more than 94,000 people died from drug overdose last year, the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period.
