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For athletes, there is almost always an unrelenting pressure to become better than your opponents, rivals, and even your past self. With this comes stress, injuries, and resolve to become better by any means necessary.
This is prevalent among high school student athletes, who still have a lot to prove and have yet to make a career out of their chosen sports. This causes them to be especially susceptible to opioid addiction.
According to the National Institute of Health. “Approximately 90% of student-athletes report sustaining an injury while participating in sports”. Of those, many will be prescribed opioids for pain relief, so they can return to competition earlier, continue to perform well, and keep up with their peers.
In general, “high school athletes also have a lifetime opioid use rate of 28% to 46%”, according to the National Council of Youth Sports.
Opioid addiction often starts from an innocuous seeming drug prescription. This can quickly become a problem, as 75% of people who struggle with addiction reported that their first opioid was a prescription drug, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Student athletes are often too busy with academics and sports to think about the repercussions of taking these prescribed medications. According to Utah Women’s Health Review, 14.3% student athletes will take opioids as prescribed on the bottle, regardless of if they feel pain or not.
Often, these prescription drugs are addictive. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, “12% of male student-athletes and 8 percent of female student athletes have been prescribed highly addictive opioid class narcotics”.
Because of the addictive nature of such drugs, athletes’ use of these substances can spiral past simple pain relief and ability enhancement into dependence and addiction.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
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