I grew up in the 1980’s. I remember the D.A.R.E. rallies on the school campuses and Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no” campaign. Alcohol and drugs have always been a modern day issue for school age children. The idea of “Just saying no” is ideal, but not practical for most. The pressure to fit in or the age of experimenting is something that most children struggle with unfortunately. Except in the past two years many are dying because of it.
A report recently published by JAMA found that in 2020 the rate of overdose nearly doubled among ages 14 to 18, and rose another 20 percent in 2021 compared to the previous decade. The report stated the root of the problem was opioid pills laced with Fentanyl.
These pills are coming across our Southern Border as a synthetic opioid, but now being stamped with markings that falsely identify them as common pharmaceutical drugs like Xanax, Percocet, and Vicodin.
Two other contributors to this problem were the Covid lockdowns and the porous Southern Border.
As a Strength and Conditioning Coach that manages one of the largest gyms in Seattle, I can attest how difficult these past two years have been specifically to high schoolers. These children I work with have shared how difficult it was socially, missing prom, graduation, and dealing with the isolation. Turning to recreational drugs to mask the pain, or hide from the uncertainty of their futures, unfortunately was all too common.
We have all seen video of, and read about the traffic on the Southern Border. It is at an all time high. The drug cartels have been smuggling Fentanyl through the border at an alarming rate. Just in the month of April we’ve had four separate busts in the news that have each subsequently broken records for the largest seized amount of Fentanyl. The latest was yesterday in the Bay Area with a whopping 92 pounds of the drug. That equates to 42,000 grams or enough to kill 4.7 million people, experts say.
