Opioid education should start inschool
Opioid use growing among youth
Areport out on Tuesday by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Alberta highlighted a number of areas related to preventing and intervening in opioid abuse in young people. “Into Focus: Calling Attention to Youth Opioid Use in Alberta” looked at 12 young people who died of opioid poisoning between October 2015 and September 2017. The children had all been involved with Child Intervention Services within two years of their deaths.
“These 12 young people represent just a small number of people in Alberta who have died from opioid poisoning,” said Del Graff, Provincial Child and Youth Advocate. “Their experiences highlight a need for targeted strategies that address youth opioid use.”
The young people in the review were not identified, but general demographics were supplied.
Five were female, seven were male. Eight were Caucasian, one was First Nations, two were Métis and one of mixed heritage.
Ten were hospitalized for drug-related overdose or psychosis. Nine had co-occurring mental health and/or cognitive disabilities.
Six were confined in a protective safe house. Residential treatment was not significantly used. Three of them accessed residential treatment services (one young person did not complete the program).
Eleven young people had involvement under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Six spent time in jail.
“Although this report is about 12 young people collectively, it is important to remember them as individuals,” said Graff. “Their substance abuse was not who they were.
“Those who knew them shared their experiences with this report with the hope their circumstances could help others from facing the same pain and heartbreak.”
In Alberta, since 2015, 229 people age 24 and younger died from opioid poisoning — 76 in 2017 alone.
On average, two people die every day from apparent accidental opioid overdoses.
“Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 have the fastest-growing rates of emergency departments and hospitalization due to opioid use,” said Graff.
There were a number of recommendations made in the review, and it called on the provincial government to create a cross-ministry youth strategy to develop a full continuum of services involving primary and early intervention, harm reduction, treatment and aftercare. The recommendations included: • Alberta Education and school authorities should increase the level of health promotion and age-appropriate substance-use education in curriculums from elementary to high school;
• Child-serving ministries should have appropriate substance-use intervention training to increase the capacity and knowledge among directservice professionals to ensure young people get the right services at the right time;
• AHS should strengthen their substance use-related interventions for young people, including special attention to those interventions directly related to youth opioid use;
• AHS Youth Addictions and Mental Health programs should be more inclusive when it comes to the involvement of family and significant individuals, including specific attention to prevention and treatment of substances by young people; and
• The Ministry of Health should review the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act and its policies in order to better meet the needs of youth and their families.
The intent of an Investigative Review is not to find fault with specific individuals, but to identify and advocate for system improvements that will help enhance the overall safety and well-being of children and youth who are receiving designated services.
The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate is an independent office of the Legislature, representing the rights, interests and viewpoints of children and young people receiving designated government services.
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