Throughout the pandemic,
we've seen drug related overdoses and
deaths spike nationwide and here in Austin,
it's an epidemic that's killed
nearly 5000 Texans last year and
experts point to the same culprit.
Illegal fentanyl laced with other drugs
about The Cave.
View Defenders found something
more alarming for parents.
The number of overdoses among
teenagers in the Austin area has
skyrocketed over the last four months.
Here's investigative reporter Jenny Lee.
Physically, but some activator
in my hand asking for help.
I'll try an art class leads to slime.
There you go.
The sticky pinggu is Gabby's
art project for the day at
University High School, a place.
So my first overdose. I had just started
using drugs and I was 12 years old.
That is helping the now 16 year
old stay sober by her own account.
I am very lucky the teenager has
tempted fate more than a dozen times
I've had like. 13 overdoses in the past.
Four years of doing drugs.
The reasons Gabby have for starting
drugs so young are heartbreaking.
Well, my dad died when I was twelve.
Yeah, and so I was kind of.
It was out of curiosity.
My mom had also passed away when I was
nine and both of them were drug addicts
and they both died of a drug overdose.
And so I was kind of like.
Using drugs out of the curiosity of
like what is so good about drugs that
my parents would choose drugs over me.
Stories like Gabbys are becoming
more common in Austin. In fact,
we've seen an uptick in calls
from just younger ages.
Libby Sanford is getting more
calls from parents seeking
treatment for their children.
She's the program director
at University High School,
part of Austin Recovery Network.
They also connected us to Gabby,
and so the trend normally is junior.
Seniors and I think we've been
seeing kind of a cross recovery.
High schools. Younger Classmen,
so freshman sophomore Sanford
says she saw that shift.
I know during the pandemic the isolation
was really hard on people in recovery
or during COVID-19,
according to the substance abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration.
About 1.6 million kids across the
US between the ages of 12 to 17 had
a substance use disorder in 2020.
That's about 6.3% of the
adolescent population.
We're seeing the increased nationwide
Sanford points to another frightening
FAD, I think. The. Biggest
trend we're seeing right now
is an increase in Delta 8,
which is a cannabinoid of THC,
so it's one of the 100 hundreds of
cannabinoids in the THC marijuana plant,
and so Delta 8 is really scary right
now because it's legal in Texas,
and it's really hard to test for,
she says cough syrup and fentanyl
are also popular among teens.
Right now the synthetic opioid is
causing a huge concern for Austin.
Travis County EMS
we've seen. The number of 18 and under
overdoses in a month that we would normally
see in between six months and a year
from December 1st,
2021 to the end of April.
This year, Austin Travis County
EMS responded to 16 confirmed
overdoses by kids 18 and under.
That's five times more than the 1st
11 months of 2021 where there were
just three teen overdoses and 2020.
There were eight, and in 2019 medics
responded to a total of 14 overdoses.
All year it's a huge increase.
Commander Blake Hardy says he knows
the numbers may not sound like a lot.
It's a risk that didn't
used to happen before,
but fentanyl changed everything. We've
known that funnel was in the pills being
sold on the streets for a number of years.
Apparently now it's made it into
people who are selling it and
and passing it out in the schools
or passing it out to teenagers.
According to the Travis County
medical examiner's office,
there were five teen deaths in 2021 as
a result of accidental drug overdoses.
It's up from 2 and 2021 in
2019 and three in 2018.
Numbers were 2022 are not available.
As for the rest of Texas Department
of State Health Services data reveals
148 pediatric deaths from accidental
overdoses between 2017 and 2021.
That's the five to 18 age group.
These accidental overdoses involve
several drugs, like fentanyl,
other opioids, heroin,
synthetic narcotics and depressants
so that. Is very scary to me personally,
Doctor Max Eckman is the president
of the Texas Pain Society.
What we're seeing is a really alarming
increase in illegally manufactured fentanyl
which is not a prescription medication.
It's not coming from healthcare at all,
but it's coming from illicit sources.
Gabby warns those illicit
sources are not hard to find.
You find one person and then they
connect you with someone else,
which is why Gabby, her legal
guardian and authorities.
For sounding the alarm,
don't take any pills that didn't come
from your parents or from a doctor
acknowledging there's a problem.
The fact that we're not still not
talking about it like we showed,
there's no shame it's an illness.
It's a disease raising awareness.
So I just think we need to talk,
talk, talk as much as we can
in order to save lives.
I started using drugs at 12 and I
know people who started using drugs
at even younger ages like 8-9 and 10,
which is like insane to me.
Nearly a year sober, Gabby hopes
her story will spark conversations,
just being in touch with your kids
and like knowing where they're going
before it's too late for the TV
defenders. Thank you. I'm Jenny Lee.
Now opening story Jenny thanks.
I hear the signs, parents and caregivers
need to be on the lookout for.
If you think your teen is doing
drugs recovery, experts say look
for a change in mood or behavior.
Are the teens getting angrier quicker?
Have you caught the teen lying frequently?
Is there cash or prescription drugs missing?
If you suspect your child has
a substance abuse problem,
you can call the number on your screen.
That number is 18 hundred 662. El.