Judy: Overdose deaths caused by
fentanyl are on the rise across
the country.
And it's especially grim for
young people - more than 75
percent of adolescent overdose
deaths in 2021 involved the
powerful synthetic opioid.
Schools in cities from Baltimore
to Tucson are stocking up on
narcan, medication used to
reverse overdoses.
Stephanie sy reports from
Sacramento, where narcan is now
available at all k-12 schools.
Stephanie: We met this mom in a
park in Sacramento.
She didn't want to be identified
because her 15-year old son is
still battling drug addiction.
He was taking counterfeit
percocets.
>> What they do is they crush
the pill and put it on foil and
light it and inhale the smoke.
And so that's how they get the
high.
Stephanie: She caught it early
and intervened.
He's one of the lucky ones.
>> There are a number of
prominent stories in the area of
teens who were doing exactly
what my son was doing, except
they are not alive anymore.
Stephanie: Pictures of those
teens were put up in this high
school gymnasium in Sacramento,
California, as a handful of
parents listened to an
information session about
fentanyl, a synthetic opioid
that is up to 100 times more
potent than morphine.
Kristel: Over 16,000 grams just
in a Sacramento county.
Stephanie: Kristel suchland, a
criminalist for the county, has
run tests on street drugs that
have recently been seized in the
area.
Kristel: Everything that we are
seeing pill wise, 98%, 99% of
them are not what they look
like.
They are fentanyl.
That's what we try to tell the
kids is if you're getting it off
the street, you do not know what
you're getting because it is
showing up in everything you
-- in everything.
You think you are getting, you
know, an oxycodone tablet.
It's fentanyl.
Stephanie: Organized by a
partnership between the group
arrive alive California and
Sacramento county health and law
enforcement officials, the
presentation was as much about
the dangers of fentanyl as it
was a pitch for narcan, a
medication that can reverse
opioid overdoses.
Romain: California schools...
Stephanie: Romaine Jones, a
father of a high school was
among the concerned parents
listening in.
Romaine: They can put the powder
on whatever and the kids can get
addicted.
I think they should stress that
a lot more than the pill,
because it is basically on
everything.
Stephanie: Jones took a dose of
the narcan nasal spray made
available for parents with him
as he left.
Fatal drug overdoses among teens
nearly doubled between 2019 and
2020 -- from 492 deaths to 954
deaths.
Last year, there were 1,146
adolescents who died, the
alarming rise largely due to
illicit fentanyl.
The drug enforcement agency says
the influx of rainbow fentanyl,
multi-colored pills that look
like candy, has been a
deliberate attempt by drug
traffickers to drive addiction
in kids and young adults.
In September, a 15 year old
girl, Melanie Ramos, was found
dead of an overdose in the
bathroom of a southern
California high school.
Her death set off alarms in
schools across the state, and
many, like ck mcclatchy high
school in Sacramento, are now
putting narcan on campus.
Students we talked had mixed
reactions to making narcan more
available.
Eli Aten is the student body
president.
Eli: If there are kids doing
drugs like that, you need some
way to help them, you can't just
let them die on the scene.
But I get that it could just be
helping the problem because
people could get their hands on
narcan to help facilitate their
drug use.
Stephanie: There is no evidence
that making narcan available in
schools would increase opioid
use.
Senior mycah Rea thinks having
narcan around is a good idea,
adding that many students may
not know what they're really
getting when they buy pills.
Mycah: I wouldn't say it's easy
to get.
I think more so it's easy to
mistake.
Because if there's a student
that says I want to go get this
this weekend, and they don't
know that it's laced with
fentanyl and then they take it
with their friends and someone
could od.
I think that's how it could be
more popular, more common.
Stephanie: We were at ck
mcclatchy as the school nurse,
Caroline Schrader, prepared the
campus for narcan.
So this is one of the signs
here?
Caroline: Exactly, we started
putting these up to notify
anybody the hallways that we
have the narcan here readily
available.
We picked the wellness center
and student center because
there's a lot of traffic.
A lot of kids come through and
they know it.
It is a general area to come to.
Stephanie: Schrader, a former
icu nurse, says street fentanyl
is unpredictable, and having
narcan is as important for
saving lives as having epi-pens
for kids with deadly allergies.
Caroline: A lot of your
overdoses don't happen with your
addicts.
They happen more with the first
time users.
They are taking one dose and
dying.
Stephanie: 27 states,
highlighted here in green, have
amended laws to make it easier
for K through 12 schools to
carry narcan.
And school staff who have to
administer the antidote are
generally protected from
liability by existing laws.
Having narcan readily available
in American schools reflects the
severity of the continuing
opioid crisis and many told us
the continuing fallout from the
pandemic.
Aaron: The ability to cope went
away.
The anxiety and depression
spiked and I do think we're in a
mental health crisis because the
average person experiences
anxiety more than they did three
years ago.
Stephanie: Student support
center coordinator Aaron Perry
often deals directly with
students who have been caught
with substances.
Perry says since the pandemic
he's noticed more kids
self-diagnosing and
self-medicating.
Aaron: Someone on social media
would say, hey, this is what I
have.
You might have it, too.
The student would pick up on it,
say I kind of exhibit the same
characteristics.
They would say Hattaway treat
this?
That's when they would start.
Stephanie: Have you had any
overdoses here?
Aaron: Not as of yet.
There's been some close calls.
Stephanie: Teens didn't start
using more drugs during the
pandemic.
In fact, research shows they
used them less frequently.
The high rate of deaths are
evidence of fentanyl's potencyas
little as 2 milligrams can be
fatal, and it is being sprinkled
into other drugs, including
heroin, cocaine and meth.
In fact, the drug enforcement
agency says the danger is
growing for teens because of
social media networks like
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,
Twitter and YouTube.
Online dealers, known as plugs,
put up drug-themed social media
posts that may contain coded
emojis to let someone know
they're selling prescription
pills or other drugs and to get
past community guidelines.
The teens can directly message
the dealers through the in-app
chat function.
Back at the park, the mom whose
son fell into substance
addiction says that was how her
son obtained pills.
>> This is one of the drug
dealers showing his product on
social media.
Stephanie: She says narcan is
only a band-aid.
And that more needs to be done.
>> It is not the answer.
I feel like we are at a crisis
point, getting to the root of
this problem, whether it is
cartel pills getting across the
border or, you know, education
for children and parents, you
know, more law enforcement, it's
going to take a village.
Stephanie: Her son is currently
attending an intensive
outpatient treatment program for
teens struggling with mental
health and substance abuse
problems.
>> It's also not something that
just happens overnight.
It is a long journey, a long
road that will continue.
Stephanie: A long road that many
parents, teens, and now schools
are facing, with no clear
destination in sight.
For the pbs newshour, I'm
Stephanie sy in Sacramento,