Rate of teen overdose deaths soared during pandemic, study finds

The rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers increased exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic — a first — even as drug use remained stable, researchers found.
According to research published in JAMA, overdose deaths among teens nearly doubled in 2020 and rose another 20% in the first half of 2021 compared with the decade before the pandemic, in which teen drug use fell to historic lows.
Joseph Friedman, MPH, an MD/PhD candidate at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said the idea for the study came from reports about counterfeit pills in circulation throughout the

The rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers increased exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic — a first — even as drug use remained stable, researchers found.
According to research published in JAMA, overdose deaths among teens nearly doubled in 2020 and rose another 20% in the first half of 2021 compared with the decade before the pandemic, in which teen drug use fell to historic lows.
Joseph Friedman, MPH, an MD/PhD candidate at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said the idea for the study came from reports about counterfeit pills in circulation throughout the