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In a country which claims to raise up the younger generation, the biggest issue facing students is the one that is ignored the most: the opioid crisis. To make matters worse, local governments have taken no action on any sort of countermeasures, simply handing students a Narcan instead of trying to solve the root cause of the problem.
This is represented after the Alameda County Government released statistics from 2023 which states that in 2023, Alameda County had 301 overdose deaths. Each statistic tells the story of a mother, brother, or a friend, but this could happen to any of us at any time. Therefore, it is important to understand how the opioid crisis started in Alameda County, where it is now, who it impacts the most and what we can do to stop it.
Everything started about a century ago. It is important to note that drug overdoses have always been present in the United States. However, it never got to this level of potency. In the 1960s, the shift in that drug came, switching from opium to morphine, then to heroin.
That continued for more than 50 years, until 2015, when fentanyl slowly started replacing heroin as a prescription drug. This takes us to today, where we have witnessed around 80,000 overdose deaths from fentanyl alone. Now, it is becoming much more common in prescriptions, with many pharmacists even adding it into fake pills, such as Vicodin or Oxycontin, or even creating a “cocktail” of pills, creating pills which mix fentanyl, heroin, and sometimes even cocaine.
Now, teenagers are becoming increasingly impacted by fentanyl in Alameda County. Alameda Unified School District states that fentanyl has become especially dangerous for teenagers as well. Not just that, but teenagers who use fentanyl often are not aware of the fact that they are taking fentanyl, mainly due to the fact that fentanyl has no odor, taste, or color.
Because of this, fentanyl has risen to the top of the list of causes of death for people under the age of 50, even beating heart attacks and cancer. Out of the 6,000 deaths caused by fentanyl overdoses in 2021, more than 200 of them were teenagers between the ages of 15 to 19. Fentanyl has now become the leading cause of death for most teenagers as well.
There are many laws in California to prevent the amount of fentanyl deaths. It is a crime to be caught with more than 1 kilogram of fentanyl in possession, but there is an even larger penalty for selling fentanyl. Since 2022, there have been 530 fentanyl-related arrests. The Alameda County Health Care Services has created a multi-pronged plan of attack, including dispersing naloxone across the county, creating naloxone dispensaries and even training students on how to use Narcan. They also created programs around the county that would allow for students to learn how to use Narcan and made it so much more common to find as well.
Now, what can students do in case of drug overdoses? It’s simple. The first thing to do is immediately call 911 for emergency medical assistance. Next, find Narcan in any form around, whether it be at your health center or in a store nearby. The next step would be to make sure that the person stays awake and breathing, offering CPR or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation if necessary. The final requirement is to make sure that they are lying on their side to avoid choking. Make sure to stay with the person until the emergency assistance arrives.
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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