Fentanyl Is Killing Our Young People by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
The statistics are shocking, even devastating. In 1968, in the thick of the counterculture revolution and the heyday of “sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll,” there were 5,033 recorded deaths by drug overdose in America, amounting to 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people. In 2019, there were 70,630 recorded deaths by drug overdose, amounting to 21.6 deaths per 100,000 people. And according to the Fentanyl Fatalities website, fentanyl deaths have almost doubled since 2019, now accounting for more than 100,000 U.S. deaths per year.
But what makes these figures all the more devastating, even agonizing, is that these are people we’re talking about, not numbers. This is someone’s son or daughter or spouse or friend, often a young person with a whole life ahead of him (or her), only to be cut down by drugs.
Even more agonizing still is the fact that many of these overdoses are completely unintentional, the result of prescription pain pills laced with fentanyl. In fact, according to Yahoo News fact checkers, “fentanyl now ranks No. 1 on the list of biggest killers of 18-to-45 year olds in the United States, and by a wide margin.”
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That means that, for the last few years in America, more people have died because of fentanyl than because of car accidents or suicide or COVID. In fact, “in the year ending April 2021, fentanyl overdose deaths outpaced the new No. 2 killer, automobile accidents, by the largest margin yet, 40,010 to 22,442.”
The Yahoo News fact checkers also noted that, “In 2019, PolitiFact West Virginia gave a Mostly True rating to the statement that “just two weeks ago, Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill every person in West Virginia 32 times over.”
Why, then, don’t we hear much more about this?
If you know my personal story, then you know that I was a heavy drug user for two years before having a born-again experience, becoming a devoted follower of Jesus in late 1971.
Before that, I did everything from smoking pot to shooting heroin, including LSD and speed and, right towards the end, cocaine. I was even nicknamed “Drug Bear” and “Iron Man” because of my intense drug use.
For me, back then, as a teenager aged 14-16, drugs were all about getting a buzz and feeling good, part and parcel of the rock culture that I had embraced as a hippie rock drummer. Yet in my foolishness and recklessness, wanting to push everything to the limit, I almost overdosed on a couple of occasions, albeit quite unintentionally.
I’m eternally grateful that the God I didn’t know or believe in at that time had mercy on me and spared my life.
Today, though, playing around with drugs has become much more dangerous for at least two reasons.
First, many people who die of fentanyl think they are prescription pills to help them deal with chronic pain.
