Nearly 200 BC youth aged 18 years or younger died in the past decade after using unregulated toxic drugs — especially opioids. In fact, in 2023, 84.8% of these deaths involved fentanyl and 20.6% involved other opioids. (The total exceeds 100% because more than one substance was often identified for a given individual.) Between 2019 and 2023, unregulated drug toxicity was the leading cause of unnatural deaths for youth in BC (i.e., deaths not due to a disease).

Research evidence is also emerging that adolescents are at particular risk for death from opioids. Among people in BC with an opioid use disorder who received at least one prescription for an opioid agonist, a medication used to treat this condition, those younger than 20 years had the highest relative risk of death of any age group.

Parallel with increasing opioid deaths, more BC youth are being diagnosed with opioid use disorder. In 2017, 285 young people between 12 and 18 years received such a diagnosis according to records from health administrative sources, a quintupling since 2007. The actual number of youth with an opioid disorder is likely an underestimate given that this condition frequently goes undiagnosed. Hypotheses for this underdiagnosing include limited practitioner training and stigma around substance use.

For more information, see Vol. 18, No. 3 of the Children’s Mental Health Research Quarterly.