Opioid-related deaths among teens and young adults in Ontario tripled from 2014 to 2021, while drug treatment rates significantly decreased, a new report shows.
Opioid deaths among those aged 15 to 24 surged during the first year of the pandemic to 169 deaths, up from 115 the year before, according to research led by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network at Unity Health Toronto.
The researchers also found that use of medications to treat opioid use disorder fell 50 per cent over those seven years and in-person residential treatment fell 73 per cent. The researchers also found that only about half of young people who died from opioids had an opioid use disorder, which differs from the overall provincial picture. About two-thirds of all opioid-related deaths occur in those who have that disorder.
"The other side of it is that we might be seeing increasing harms because teens and young adults are more likely to be using drugs occasionally," Gomes said. She suggested increasing harm reduction options and education, especially the value of carrying around naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote, and not using drugs alone.
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