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The human body is strong, resilient, and adaptive. It’s what we’ve evolved to become after generations of facing risks and earning rewards for survival. Yet, for an opioid user, this inherent strength makes drugs the biggest risk they’ll ever face. The human body’s tolerance is a big reason why opioids are the survival challenge we haven’t conquered.
For opioids, tolerance is defined as a decrease in the effect of the opioid after prolonged use, as per a medical study analyzing opioid tolerance. In the human body, drugs are characterized through dosage and response. In this context, tolerance results in less of a response for the same amount of dosage, and it only takes days to form. Continuous dosage of classes of drugs like opioids result in severe levels of tolerance forming.
Teens are uniquely susceptible to the addiction and response drugs provide, due to their developing brains being more sensitive to the rewards of the response. Teen susceptibility directly links to an addiction for reward, resulting in tolerance, creating a vicious cycle that ultimately results in the fatal consequences of drugs. Opioids in turn release dopamine, affecting a crucial part of teens’ growing brains that hijacks reward systems and quickens the addiction process. There’s a reason why the proportion of teen fentanyl deaths is increasing year-over-year.
Alameda County is an extremely diverse county; many localized subcommunities’ relations with drug usage arise from varying factors from neighborhood disorder to social cohesion. Regardless, the effects of opioids have disproportionately impacted lower-income, underserved cities. While marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug among Alameda County teens, it’s grown as a gateway drug to dangerous opioids with rapidly-developing tolerances. Within Alameda County, opioid overdose is the fastest-growing cause of death for the youth.
While the teen body is strong, receptive, and developing, it’s life-threatening to test its limits. Know that Alameda County has health services targeted for the youth, including agonizers that can relieve pain and get teens off drugs for good.
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.
