Why the Sudden Rise in Fentanyl Deaths Among Young People?
A mother who tragically lost her teenage son to fentanyl poisoning is speaking out about the opioid crisis among the nation’s youth. Federal data shows that among 10- to 19-year-olds, fentanyl deaths rose 182% from 2019 to 2021. . .
“The cause of Alec’s death was, in fact, fentanyl poisoning. I know that he took a pill, I don’t know how he got it or what he thought it was,” Hehl told The Daily Signal in an April interview. “I found him unresponsive in his room in the afternoon after speaking to him that morning and did not suspect anything abnormal.”
Hehl says she wishes society would focus on increased education around fentanyl and that the law would reflect greater penalties for drug dealers. “We need to make stronger efforts to combat the fentanyl attack,” she said.
According to the latest research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses took the lives of more than 80,000 individuals in 2021, with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl accounting for 88% of the deaths. And according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45 is fentanyl overdose.
“Fentanyl made a cameo appearance in the United States late in the 1970s, when it was known as ‘China White.’ Now, however, it has become the principal villain responsible for America’s overdoses and fatalities,” Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, wrote in a legal memorandum. (Read more from “Why the Sudden Rise in Fentanyl Deaths Among Young People?” HERE)
