Based on a Reuters analysis of emergency response data, drug-related 911 calls for young people aged 20 and under increased by nearly 43% last year.
Health experts say school closures, cancellations of sports and social isolation are partly to blame reut.rs/2XrOq8k 1/7
Hockey was central to 16-year-old Sequoyah Klingele’s life. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sequoyah turned to drugs.
A friend found him unresponsive in April. He’d died of an accidental methadone overdose 2/7
Luca, 13, became increasingly depressed after school closures left him isolated.
He died of an overdose in August 2020 from a fentanyl pill 3/7
The rate of emergency calls involving young people who required naloxone – a drug that reverses an opioid overdose – increased by 34% from 2019 to 2020, the highest it’s been since at least 2017 4/7
Jeff Covitz, a San Francisco paramedic, said most of his overdose calls involve street fentanyl, which can require more than three times as much naloxone to reverse than heroin 5/7
In March, Reuters conducted an investigation into how school closures have affected students’ mental health reut.rs/3rTO5X4 6/7
Experts attribute the spike in youth and young adults dealing with significant mental health issues and substance use to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more from @specialreports reut.rs/3xJvgqZ 7/7
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