Overdose among Amercian youth

Interesting NYTimes editorial below, citing troubling stats on overdose in the US today.

Cheers
Rob


July 18, 2008
Editorial
More Kids Dying
Despite a decline in overall drug use, the rate at which young Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 have been dying from drug overdoses has jumped dramatically — more than doubling between 1999 and 2005. In the same period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “accidental poisoning deaths” in this age group, mostly drug overdoses, have jumped from 849 to 2,355.

Instead of rushing to save these young people, state governments are actually shortchanging them. Only a tiny fraction of the money that Washington sends to the states under the Substance Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Block Grant program is aimed at young drug abusers. This cannot go on.

Prescription painkillers like oxycodone and Vicodin are the most common drugs involved in fatal overdoses by young people. The problem need not be measured only in fatalities.

Other, more familiar kinds of drug abuse have increased as well: the percentage of high school seniors who smoke marijuana on a daily basis tripled from nearly 2 percent to 6 percent in the 1990s. The number drifted down to 5.1 percent last year, but that is still alarmingly high, and marijuana is more potent than ever.

Even so, fewer than 1 in 10 American adolescents who need drug treatment get it, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This threatens their health and well being. Drug abuse is also much more difficult and expensive to solve if it is not addressed early.

Every year, Congress dispenses a block grant to the states for drug treatment and prevention — $1.75 billion in 2007. Yet it attaches too few strings. States are not required to spend the money on addiction treatments of proven effectiveness, leading to wasteful experimentation. And while there are set-asides for groups like pregnant women, there is no requirement that any of the money be spent on adolescents. The states are left to decide whether to treat the young, and how.

In 2006, less than 6 percent of the grant — $104.8 million — was spent on people below the age of 25. And adolescents 17 and below nationwide, arguably the most vulnerable group, received less than one-third of that.

That’s obviously not enough. If there is any doubt, just take another look at the rising numbers of kids dying from drug overdoses.