TEACHING PARENTS WILL LEAD TO BETTER TALKS WITH KIDS
As if parenting wasn’t hard enough, the fentanyl epidemic has added to the list of worries parents have for their children as they become teenagers. Drugs have always been around, but it used to be that a onetime experiment with drugs would result in never doing it again, becoming an occasional or recreational user or lead to a life of challenges resulting from addiction. Even with addiction, there was room for recovery with programs like Narcotics Anonymous or an in-patient treatment facility. Fentanyl can take that option away because a single dose can result in death due to its potency, which is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is inexpensive to produce, and often mixed in with other drugs that can be shared without the user knowing what’s in them.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office reports that overdose deaths from fentanyl start at around age 14 and that children much younger than 14 are “routinely coming in contact with fentanyl in the home and overdosing.”
Educating parents and guardians on the dangers of synthetic drugs like fentanyl can hopefully reduce the number of tragic incidents, which have tripled among teens over the last two years. In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 2,200 adolescents overdosed from July 2019 to December 2021, and that 96 percent of them were teenagers ages 15 to 19. The CDC said that 70 percent of the victims were boys and 30 percent of them were girls while 60 percent of those who died were White, 21 percent were Hispanic and 13 percent were Black.
These educational opportunities should bring attention to where teens are acquiring drugs. Fentanyl and fentanyl-laced substances are being sold online through popular social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat, applications that are accessible and commonly used by teenagers. Their inexpensive cost, bright colors and attractive street names can appeal to teens. A simple web search of “street names for fentanyl” produced results like goodfella, friend, dance fever, he-man and great bear.
Assembly Bill 889, introduced by Assemblymember Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, would require school officials to inform parents yearly of the risks associated with using synthetic drugs. There are no specifics yet about what the materials or training methods would look like for parents. But whatever the training method, each school would provide the information on its website.
It is important to note that accessibility and language issues are important to consider when deciding how to deliver this information. For example, primarily Spanish-speaking parents who received the information in English might be less likely to process the presented information. In addition to language, components of gender, culture, socioeconomic status and identity need to be considered when relaying this information that could save students’ lives.
Informed parents are more likely to be involved parents, and schools that take on the responsibility of ensuring that parents are updated with the latest drug information will be seen as fostering relationships with families and caring for children. School officials and parents should be working together. With parental education, family conversations with teenagers about the risks and harms associated with drug use may be easier to initiate and maintain.
Educating parents and guardians on the dangers of synthetic drugs like fentanyl can hopefully reduce the number of tragic incidents, which have tripled among teens over the last two years. Attention should be paid to where teens are acquiring drugs.