How Many Teens Die of Drug Overdose?An overdose is a severe, potentially fatal reaction to substance-induced changes inside the body. This reaction can occur in people who consume illegal substances, as well as people who consume excessive amounts of alcohol or prescription or non-prescription medications. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of all drug overdoses affect the nation’s teenagers. Every year, a substantial number of these affected teens will die.

How Do Overdoses Lead to Death?

Before focusing on the statistics for fatal teen overdoses, it’s helpful to understand why overdoses can lead to death. Illegal and illicit drugs, prescription or non-prescription medications and alcohol have one main thing in common. Namely, they trigger some sort of change in the normal function of the human body. In some cases, these changes have a medical benefit. However, many people consume substances for recreational reasons, not medical reasons.

In theory, any substance capable of altering body function can have toxic or poisonous effects when consumed in excessive amounts. Some substances, including cocaine, can produce these effects even when consumed in smaller amounts. An overdose[i] occurs when the level of toxic reaction produced by a substance interferes with the body’s ability to carry out its basic tasks.

In a best-case scenario, this kind of interference can lead to significant physical and/or mental discomfort. In a worst-case scenario, it can lead to loss of function in vital organs such as the lungs, heart and brain. People affected by severe overdoses can easily die from disrupted breathing, brain damage or other causes if they don’t receive emergency medical intervention.

What Qualifies as a Drug Overdose?

Broadly speaking, doctors, researchers and public health officials use the term drug to identify any non-food substance that alters a person’s mental or physical functions. However, the term is often used more strictly. For example, professionals in substance-related fields commonly distinguish between drugs and alcohol.

In addition, when compiling statistics on fatal and non-fatal overdoses, they often group illegal/illicit substances (e.g., heroin, cocaine or marijuana) together with various kinds of prescription medications. Experts take this step, in part, because overdoses caused by legal substances can easily be as fatal as overdoses caused by illegal substances.

How Many Teenagers Die?

No organization in the U.S. keeps track of all potential causes of fatal drug overdoses. However, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does keep track of the most common sources of overdose deaths. The latest CDC figures, released in August 2017, cover all such deaths that took place between 1999 and 2015.[ii] These figures include statistics for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19.

The CDC reports that, in 2015, a total of 772 American teenagers aged 15 to 19 died from a drug overdose. That amount is equal to 3.7 out of every 100,000 people in this age range. By far, the substances most heavily linked with fatal outcomes were illegal/illicit and prescription opioids.

In descending order, the other most common sources of drug fatalities in older U.S. adolescents were benzodiazepine medications, stimulants other than cocaine, and cocaine. Fatal overdoses among U.S. adults often involve these same four groups of substances.[iii] Some federal figures group teenagers over the age of 15 together with adults below the age of 25.[iv]

In 2015, teenage boys died from drug overdoses 70 percent more often than teenage girls. Overall, unintentional fatalities were far more common than drug-related suicides. However, gender also plays a role. While just 8.7 percent of all fatal overdoses among boys were intentional, roughly one in five (21.9 percent) affected girls meant to kill themselves. In a relatively small number of cases, the CDC researchers could not distinguish between accidental and intentional deaths.

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What About Younger Teenagers?

Federal statistics show that, for the most part, older teenagers have a higher rate of involvement in substance use/abuse than teenagers below the age of 15.[v] The one glaring exception to this rule is consumption of the makeshift drugs known as inhalants. For this reason, when gathering overdose statistics, researchers place their focus on boys and girls age 15 and older. This does not mean that 13- and 14-year-olds never die from drug intake. However, while some fatalities almost surely occur in younger teens, the general assumption is that these deaths are far less common.

The rate of fatal teen drug overdose in the U.S. has increased sharply since the late 1990s. However, today’s rate is substantially below the most recent historical peak, which occurred in 2006-2007. From 2007 to 2013, the number of affected teenagers dropped significantly.

Despite this fact, rates began to rise again in 2013-2014. Between 2014 and 2015, drug overdose rates among boys between the ages of 15 and 19 spiked by 15 percent. Between 2013 and 2015, rates among girls in this age range jumped by 35 percent.

Opioids Are a Specific Area of Concern

Opioid drugs and prescription medications are the underlying cause of more than two-thirds of all fatal drug overdoses among American teenagers. In the eight-year span between 1999 and 2007, opioid-related fatalities increased by over 200 percent. The rate remained largely stable, and even declined for a while, between 2007 and 2014. However, it began to rise again in 2015. Overall, the rate of fatal opioid overdoses increased more than threefold between 1999 and 2015.

Heroin currently ranks as the number one opioid-related source of drug overdose fatalities among U.S. teens. In fact, this substance alone accounts for more than one-quarter of all adolescent overdose deaths (including non-opioid deaths). The next most common opioid source of fatalities is a group of completely synthetic substances that includes the medications tramadol and fentanyl.

Next in frequency is a group of semisynthetic and natural opioids that specifically excludes heroin (a drug derived from naturally occurring morphine). The opioid medication methadone also accounts for a smaller, but significant, number of fatal teen overdoses.

Help Is Available

Whether accidental or intentional, fatal adolescent drug overdoses are often part of a larger trend of substance abuse and/or addiction. If you or your child is affected by abuse/addiction issues, turn to Transformations Treatment Center. Our staff of certified professionals specializes in effective treatment that helps teenaged and adult participants establish and maintain their long-term sobriety.

  1. U.S. National Library of Medicine – MedlinePlus: Overdose
    https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007287.htm
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Drug Overdose Deaths Among Adolescents Aged 15-19 in the United States – 1999-2015
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db282.htm
  3. National Institute on Drug Abuse: Overdose Death Rates
    https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
  4. National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens: Drug Overdoses in Youth
    https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/drug-overdoses-youth