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Across Alameda County and the U.S., more teens are quietly turning to opioids, often as a way to cope with overwhelming stress, trauma, and pressures that constantly surround them.
In fact, The New England Journal of Medicine states that opioid overdose deaths among teens has more than doubled in recent years and continues to increase at exponential rates. Specifically, in 2023, Alameda County recorded an age-adjusted overdose mortality rate of 21.29 per 100,000 residents – a significant 60.8% increase from 2022.
Despite thriving in academics, sports, or extracurriculars, many teens are silently struggling. Their outward success often masks inner battles. This creates a dangerous gap; while adults may see achievement, what goes unseen is the quiet slide into substance use as a form of coping.
Not all opioid use stems from stress, however. Some teens experiment recreationally, self-medicate for pain, or face hidden risks from fentanyl-laced drugs.
That said, while honors students and high-achievers may seem like the most obvious faces of burnout – and later, opioid use – the reality is that students from all walks of life are vulnerable. It is crucial that people work to understand why and how teens turn to opioids and what can be done as preventive action for everyone.
Why teens turn to opioids
Teens are overwhelmed by countless stressors on any given day, including AP classes, college prep, sports, clubs, part-time jobs, and maybe even unresolved trauma, leading to more burnout. Then, they wake up to do it all again, with little to no relief.
This might even lead to greater mental health issues, like anxiety and depression. Confirming this, the Journal of Child and Adolescent writes that about 30% of adolescents experience anxiety‐related disorders, and this number is likely to rise. This leaves teens searching for a solution to numb that emotional pain.
But stress isn’t the only factor. Curiosity, peer pressure, recreational experimentation, and self-medicating for untreated pain or injuries also play a role in driving opioid use among young people. Whether that be “harmless” experiment or an intentional escape, it often becomes a dangerous pattern that is hard to reverse.
In the end, opioids don’t solve teen struggles – they mask them temporarily while creating deeper, longer-lasting harm.
Access and risk factors
Beyond the reasons why teens turn to opioids, another critical question is how they are actually gaining access to these drugs – and the answer often lies much closer to home than many parents realize.
Teens often gain access to opioids via leftover prescriptions in family medicine cabinets, family or friends selling or sharing pills, theft or diversion of medications, and even through sports networks where injuries and pain management can create a pipeline to misuse.
In addition, the rise of fentanyl contamination has made access more dangerous than ever. In fact, 69%t of overdose deaths in 2023 “involved synthetic opioids, primarily illegally made fentanyl and fentanyl analogs”, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Teens who believe they are taking another substance may unknowingly consume opioids, leading to accidental overdoses.
Beyond the immediate dangers of overdose or health complications, opioid addiction disproportionately affects adolescents because their brains are still in critical stages of development. This makes them more vulnerable to stronger addictive effects, impaired decision-making, and long-term mental health consequences.
Local focus: Inside Alameda County schools
While national data can show how teens gain access to opioids and why they turn to them, it’s equally important to see how these patterns play out at the local level.
In Alameda County schools, educators are confronting these issues firsthand. One of them is Chris MacDougall, a contemporary health teacher at Emerald High School in Dublin, who has also taught at Dublin High School. His perspective offers insight into both the challenges students face and the progress being made within the Dublin Unified School District today.
Academic expectations remain one of the heaviest burdens students carry – and those pressures can fuel unhealthy coping behaviors, which may include opioid usage.
MacDougall views similar trends within the students at the schools he has taught at, saying that he has observed that “the pressures are largely academic,” MacDougall said. “There are expectations that students put on themselves. (If) a person doesn’t fit in that box, then that causes certain people some stress.”
This mirrors national patterns of burnout, performance pressure, and other risk factors for substance use.
When it comes to opioids specifically, many younger students lack the knowledge to fully understand the dangers, even as they know the drugs exist around them.
“Freshmen do not have a lot of knowledge of those substances,” MacDougall said. “People need to be educated on those things.”
Teens may know opioids exist but don’t fully grasp the risks of misuse, so awareness and comprehensive education is important.
Dublin Unified School District has leaned into prevention by meeting and often exceeding state health education standards, pairing classroom lessons with peer-led initiatives.
MacDougall confirmed the effective implementation of these programs in both of the high schools he has taught at in Dublin Unified School District. He said the district has been dedicated to the teaching of health standards through mandatory contemporary health classes for freshmen and he is “happy that our district has made that commitment.”
He explained how the students have embraced the concept of peer-education on health concepts and opioid use – such as TUPE (Tobacco Use Peer Education) and NCAPDA (National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse) – and continue to inspire and empower each other while showing active efforts to break stigma and keep conversations open.
MacDougall’s local perspective, based on his teaching experience, reveals a district working hard to educate its students, but it also echoes a larger truth – preventing youth opioid misuse will take sustained community commitment and broader systems of support.
Teen opioid use isn’t simply rebellion – it often reflects the pressures and stresses teens face daily. Trauma-informed, youth-centered education and healthcare are essential. Prevention programs and initiatives require continued support and expansion to truly protect teens from the hidden harms driving opioid use.
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.
