HORRIBLE –
Sept. 26, 2025 – In 2023, 557 teens died of opioid overdose, nearly threefold as many as in 2018, while adult opioid deaths only went up by 65% during this time, according to the study. Drug overdoses are now among the leading causes of death for US teenagers. “Ten years ago, illicitly manufactured fentanyl was primarily something that people with a history of opioid use were using via injection or smoking,” Cano said, adding that now teenagers who are experimenting with drugs are more likely to encounter these pills or buy them through social media.
Fentanyl is highly addictive, but for teenagers who find themselves dependent on it, “there’s just no treatment available in many communities,” says Jessica Calihan, an adolescent medicine physician at Massachusetts general hospital and Harvard Medical School instructor.
