Teenagers Drugs Overdoses

Illustration (Statistic from US National Center for Health)

Excessive use of drugs (drugs overdose) leads to death has been at alarming rate, and even getting worse in recent day in the USA.  The increasing rate of overdoses death is higher in female compared to male teenagers. 35% to female from 2013 to 2015, while the increasing is less than a half (15%) to male in the year of 2014 to 2015.

Overdoses and Number

The modern time of American parents face with their children problems that include driving, suicide epidemic, alcohol and drug abuses. It is a kind of “teen-parent conflict” as said by Coontz (1997, p.7-8).

Drugs overdose are including heroin, and unoriginal (contaminated) heroin. In term of number, as reported by Dotinga (2017) that male much more death than female due to drug overdoses.  Teenagers of age between 15 to 19 had 772 total death in 2015, they are 300 females, and 500 males.

They mainly consumed heroin at excessive amount. Other drugs that caused fatally overdoses death are fentanyl and various prescription pills such as painkillers pills. Opioid has evolved to different kind of product that caused people to be more addiction, drug dependent, and off course more dangerous.

Change Way of Life?

The parent shock that their young children out of control in some respects. There are changes in teenagers’ way of life, especially transition between child to teen, and then from teen to adult.

Yes, there are increase in suicide rate and drugs abuses, but surprisingly that teens do not involve in violent at higher rate compared to adults. Teens are not criminal, and not as victims like adults.

In fact, in case of suicide rate that involve their parents, teachers, school administrations, counselors and psychologists are much higher rate than teenagers. Even parents and teachers twice than teenagers in term of suicide rate. Thus, not blame to teen only. The problems not only created by teenagers, but also their parents and society in the larger extend.

The important question is how to reduce drug overdoses on teenagers? The answer is by prevention and treatment methods. The prevention should be done by government policies through president and congress. Government should see the drugs overdoses as national crisis.

One of the treatments is by introducing of “methadone-like” pills. This pill is function as to wean the teenagers or whoever off opioids overdoses.

Finally, government, parents, teachers and community should cooperate and help each other to formulate a kind of policies or attitudes in order to solve teenager wrongdoing behaviors such as drug overdoses.

References 

Dotinga, R. 2017. Fatal drug overdose deaths on the rise among U.S. teens. Retrieved from

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fatal-drug-overdose-deaths-on-the-rise-among-u-s-teens/

Coontz, S. (1997). How History and Sociology Can Help Today’s Families. p.7-8