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Report: More than 5,000 children, teens have died of fentanyl overdoses in last 20 years

In most cases, victims were between 15 and 19 years old.

News 12 Staff

May 9, 2023, 9:47 AM

Updated 582 days ago

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It's Fentanyl Awareness Day and new numbers show the country's opioid crisis is claiming young lives at an alarming rate.
New research shows the numbers of children and teens who died from fentanyl overdoses has gone up 30-fold from 2013 to 2021, according to data published in the JAMA pediatrics journal.
The drug has caused more than 5,000 deaths in young people in the last 20 years.
Half of those death occurred during the first two years of the pandemic.
In most cases, victims were between 15 and 19 years old.