Consider This from NPR - Making It Easier For Kids To Get Help For Addiction, And Prevent Overdoses

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

The U.S. is in the midst of a drug crisis, with opioid overdose deaths climbing to epidemic proportions. And overdose deaths among young people, between the ages of 10 and 19, have been on the rise with sharp increases in recent years. Across the country, cities and states are looking for strategies to help kids survive the opioid crisis. At a school in Virginia, students are learning how to obtain and use the lifesaving overdose reversal nasal spray Narcan that was recently made available for sale over the counter.And in California, where fentanyl is the cause of 1 in 5 deaths among youths, a pending bill could allow younger teens to seek drug treatment without parental consent.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu forward. My first drug dealer was a doctor. When Greg Hill suffered an injury at 15 that caused pinched nerves in his lower back, he was prescribed an opioid medication for the pain. That became a habit by itself. Once his prescription ran out, he turned to the streets to find drugs.

It just progressed over time. At the end, I was using alone. I didn't have any friends. Nobody trusted me. Nobody wanted me around. And it was miserable. Hill's mother, Laura Mitchell, recognized her son's drug addiction around the time he was 19. the War on Drugs series on the History Channel. They talked about symptoms of overdosing on opiates and the nodding off, like sitting there having a conversation and their head just drops and they seem to like have a micro nap. I recognized that it was very frequent and I was like, oh my gosh, it started clicking and I thought, it's July, he's wearing long sleeves. Where are my spoons going? Why do I keep finding pen barrels without the pen in them? Mitchell and her son spoke with NPR's Michelle Martin.

Hill remembers several close calls with death from his drug addiction. I've actually had been administered Narcan before. Narcan is a nasal spray form of the drug naloxone, which can reverse a drug overdose. I owe my life to that drug because it brought me back. After being in and out of jail because of his drug use, Hill says he finally got sober. Having the time away gave me the time that I needed to get everything out of my system and to have a clear mind and be able to decide for myself and not have the drug decide for me or the court systems or my family or anybody but for me.

Hill is now 37 and he's been sober for about seven and a half years. His mother, Laura Mitchell, says her son's struggle with addiction led her to become an advocate for drug addiction recovery. She is co-founder of a group in Maryland called Montgomery Goes Purple. Their goal is to intervene in the drug epidemic, and she says it's particularly important to focus on drug abuse among young people. We already this school year lost five young people to overdose deaths. 90% of the overdoses that happen are happening in bathrooms in schools. Will Jawando is a council member in Montgomery County, Maryland. Jawando has been hosting public forums to discuss fentanyl and other opioids at the center of the drug crisis. He says Narcan

should be available everywhere. Greg Hill agrees, and that teens and kids should be able to access the life-saving medication as well. In my experience, I started using it at 15. You know, a 15-year-old kid doesn't know when enough is enough. It's totally reasonable to assume that at some point one of these kids is going to overdose. And if it's there, it can help. If it's not, what good is it doing? Why have something and not use it to its full advantage? His mom, Laura Mitchell, wants Narcan to be available in every school in the country.

I would like to see every staff member trained and caring. I would like to see naloxone located with every AED kit. But if we don't have naloxone every place and every person, I challenge them all to carry it. If we don't have it, you can't save that person and they will never find recovery. Consider this. In the U.S., more than 106,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2021 from both prescription opioids and illegal drugs. And overdose deaths of those age 10 to 19 have been on the rise, with sharp increases in recent years. After the break, we visit a school where students are being trained on how to use Narcan,

and we take a look at the barriers to treatment for opioid addiction among youth. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Monday, June 12th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation. Working together to create a just world where all people have access to renewable energy, clean air and water, and healthy food. The Schmidt Family Foundation is part of the philanthropic

organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. It's Consider This from NPR. Earlier this year, Narcan was approved by the FDA for sale over the counter, expanding access to the medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. And across the country, now some schools are allowing students to carry Narcan. Sarah Y. Kim of member station WAMU reports from Arlington, Virginia, where students are being trained to use the life-saving medication. Students who want to carry Narcan at Arlington Public Schools have to attend a training,

like this drop-in session at the county central library. This is one of several trainings the county has been holding for students. Trainer Jim Dooley is using a CPR mannequin to demonstrate. He's showing students what to do if a person is unresponsive. So put it in the nostril, insert it. It's not always clear if someone is experiencing an overdose, but trainer Emily Sigvaland tells the group you should still call 911 and administer Narcan. You will not cause harm if you administer this when it's not needed. So keep that in mind. That's by far the most important thing I want you to take out of this conversation. Narcan is not a substitute for medical care, but it can quickly prevent an

overdose from becoming fatal. And it's easy to use, so easy that the training can take as little as 10 minutes. Wakefield High School student Pablo Swisher-Gomez says he's getting trained to keep his peers safe. You never know when something could happen. One of his schoolmates died from an apparent overdose earlier this year. Swisher-Gomez says that drug use has a lot to do with bad mental health. The mental health stuff is real. People are more open about that now, which I'm glad, but it's definitely still a struggle that people don't necessarily always talk about. According to CDC data, overdose deaths among teenagers have been going up

since the pandemic began, jumping by 94 percent from 2019 to 2020. That ongoing surge, as well as FDA approval of Narcan's over-the-counter use, has prompted more schools to allow students to carry the nasal spray. Emily Sigvaland, Narcan trainer and opioid program manager for Arlington County's Department of Human Services, says parents in Arlington seem very supportive. I think it also allows students to feel very empowered and to recognize how safe and effective this medication is. And this policy is one of those ways to communicate that. Nora Volkov directs the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She says some school districts aren't making Narcan accessible because of a mistaken belief that it enables drug use.

The reality is that if you lose someone, all of your logic, all of your arguments are no longer valid. I mean, the person died. There's nothing else that can be done. Volkov says teenagers can accidentally overdose after taking counterfeit pills, a pill made to look like Adderall, a common study drug, could be laced with fentanyl. Volkov says the spread of fentanyl is one of two major factors driving up overdose rates in recent years. The other is a pandemic, which exacerbated mental health issues in young people. Gloria Faso, a junior at Washington Liberty High, says there is more awareness now around youth mental health, but there are still

not enough resources for young people. I would say that the help isn't coming at the rate as of students needing the help, like more and more students are getting more and more depressed. Faso says that more parents need to see drug use as a mental health issue rather than a crime. But Fosso's optimistic that parents in Arlington will still embrace the new Narcan policy. The opioid crisis has hit the county hard this year, and she believes parents want their kids to be safe and keep others safe. That was WAMU reporter Sarah Y. Kim. In California, fentanyl is behind one in five deaths among youths. Getting opioid treatment can be a difficult process to navigate, and it can be particularly hard for those under 18

who need parental consent to access the treatment. But a California bill is on the table that would change that and make it easier for kids and teens to get the help they need. Just a heads up, this story mentions suicide. Leslie McClurg from member station KQED takes it from here. Hey guys. Most afternoons, Charlotte Blue teaches preschool in San Jose. I won't peak, I promise. She's grateful to have her life back on track. A few years ago, when she was 18 years old. Had a plan one day to try to commit suicide, and my plan was to use fentanyl to do it.

Her home life was in shambles. She was addicted to heroin and crystal meth. That night she smoked fentanyl for the first time. She overdosed. Her friends had to use three doses of Narcan to revive her. And that was just the beginning of her spiral into fentanyl addiction. Every time she tried to quit. I was itching.

I had cold sweats. I was throwing up constantly. Every few days I would just give up and smoke again because I couldn't handle the feeling of the withdrawals. Eventually, she had enough. I lost my car. I lost my friends. I kind of lost touch with myself. A county drug counselor helped Blue enroll in a new treatment program for youth. They were there for me when no one else was. They helped me get on Suboxone to get off of the drugs and help with the withdrawals. Suboxone is the brand name of buprenorphine. It comes as a pill or a film that dissolves under your tongue, and it binds to the

opioid receptors in your brain, but it doesn't activate them all the way, so it doesn't get you high, but it does prevent withdrawal symptoms. Dr. Lee Trope is a pediatrician in San Jose. We've been shocked by how many teens and young adults in the community have come to us, you know, sort of desperate for help. Some of them are using every two to three hours, like 10 fentanyl pills a day. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin. Suboxone is approved for addiction treatment for youth over 16, but Trope says she often can't prescribe it to many of the adolescents who need it. It's not uncommon that they're living on the street. Many of them are living with grandparents or aunts or uncles because their guardians are in the grips of addiction themselves. California requires youth to be 18 to take Suboxone without parental consent.

A new state bill could change that, but it's facing some opposition because it would allow minors to access Suboxone at 16 without mom or dad. I'm not personally comfortable just letting minors on their own at 16 years go to a doctor and get this type of medication. Bill Assele is a Republican state legislator. He worries the proposed bill will encourage kids to hide their addiction from parents. It's too sweeping, it's too broad, and it covers a bigger class of people and minors than the bill is intended to target. He would rather see much narrower legislation limited to kids who are estranged from their parents and focused on social services.

Back in San Jose at Charlotte Blue's preschool... I like Miss Charlotte. I like Miss Charlotte. She's a good teacher. She's not sure she would be here today if she had needed her parents' permission when she started Suboxone at 18. My parents were very against it, actually.

They thought that it was an easy way out. They still believed that it was a drug to make me high. She tried to explain that Suboxone doesn't make you feel euphoric, but they didn't believe her. She's grateful she didn't need their buy-in. Aw, you guys are so sweet. When she's not with the kids, Blue is in community college studying dental hygiene. That was KQED reporter Leslie McClurg. If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers. Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org.