The Rosenthal Report, published each month by the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies,
brings its readers insights and commentary on current issues of drug use.
WE URGENTLY NEED SMART AND EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS
TO REDUCE SOARING OVERDOSE DEATHS
Drug overdose deaths rose to yet another record level in 2021, reaching nearly 108,000 as synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and methamphetamines fueled an ever-worsening addiction and overdose crisis. Although this 15 percent increase is lower than the year before, drug-related fatalities have been spiking for decades and now account for more deaths than from AIDS, gun violence, and even traffic accidents. Fentanyl alone killed 71,000 last year, while meth—which in recent years has become cheaper and more lethal—claimed the lives of another 58,000.
Equally disturbing is the alarming increase in drug deaths among teens and young adults. Even as experimental drug use has declined significantly for this demographic since 2010, deaths from fentanyl in this age group have nearly quadrupled over the past two years, from 253 in 2019 to 884 in 2021. While this represents only a fraction of total fatalities, overdoses are now the leading cause of preventable death among people ages 18 to 45. Perhaps just as troubling is how young people can easily purchase these drugs online using popular social media apps such as TikTok and Snapchat. Illicit dealers take advantage of the anonymity and encrypted message capabilities these websites provide to sell their wares to young people seeking prescription medications such as Xanax and Percocet—but are unaware that many of the pills they receive are laced with deadly fentanyl.
What can be done? The Biden administration has recently laid out a comprehensive strategy backed by $1.5 billion in new funding that combines different harm reduction measures, expands drug treatment, and increases law enforcement. While such measures are important in the long term, the immediate challenge is to reduce the nearly 300 daily overdose deaths nationwide. To accomplish this, as part of harm reduction efforts, we must first ensure that fentanyl drug-testing strips are made more widely available to help prevent users from mistakenly ingesting the synthetic opioid. Currently, drug-testing strips are technically illegal in about half the states, as they fall under arcane “drug paraphernalia” laws that date back decades. Repealing these antiquated laws while at the same time developing more sophisticated test strips that are capable of finding multiple drugs—including methamphetamines—would be an impactful first step, as more and more users mix substances that may be contaminated.
We must also reach out to young people—and their parents—to warn them about not only drug addiction but also the possible presence of fentanyl in the drugs they are buying online. To this end, the nonprofit Ad Council—backed by social media and tech companies that claim they are already cracking down on illicit drug sales by closing suspicious accounts—will be launching public service announcements this summer specifically aimed at increasing fentanyl awareness. The campaign is intended to reach the target age group 16 to 24 that spends on average more than three hours a day on social media platforms. But there is still much more that could be done to combat this crisis: a sweeping federal government-sponsored initiative to reach all Americans through various media formats—both physical and digital—wherever they live and however they engage with news and information.
The unrelenting overdose crisis is tragic, and tears at the fabric of our society. But there is an opportunity to slow fatalities and ultimately engage affected individuals in treatment by mobilizing all our resources to implement smart and effective programs—that work.
