By Linda Kor With kids heading back to school, meeting up with old friends and making new ones, it is more important than ever to become educated on the popular drugs they may be introduced to and what dangers they present. While tobacco sales have dropped, vaping is now the popular trend amongst the youth as well as marijuana, which now comes in a variety of forms that kids can gain access to, including candy. Another disturbing trend is fentanyl-laced drugs that can be fatal. Vicky Solomon is the executive director of the Nexus Coalition for Drug Prevention in Navajo County and her team works with teen courts, school principals, parents and community leaders to provide free drug diversion programs and life skills for youth as well as parent education using evidence-based programs. According to Solomon, fentanyl is the most dangerous drug kids may be exposed to at this time. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent and can become lethal within a few minutes of exposure. The drug can be a small blue pill drug with M 30 stamped on it or it may be mixed with other drugs making it unable to be detected until it is ingested. “The biggest concerns facing kids and adults today when it comes to drugs are fentanyl laced pills, which are also known as counterfeit pills. One out of four counterfeit pills will have fentanyl mixed in and it could be a lethal dose to many.” The pills Solomon refers to may have the appearance of typical prescription drugs but in reality are laced with fentanyl and sold on the streets illegally. Local law enforcement has seized millions of dollars worth of fentanyl in Navajo County just in the past year. Another drug popular among the youth are e-cigarettes. Solomon also stated that in 2020, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration data showed that at least 3.6 million U.S. youth, including about one in five high school students and about one in 20 middle school students, used e-cigarettes over the course of 30 days. E-cigarettes are known by many different names. They’re sometimes called e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, vapes, tanks systems or end nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). A common brand name e-cigarette device is JUUL, which is a battery powered device that is shaped like a USB flash drive, making it difficult to spot on school campuses. A majority of users ages 15-24 do not know that JUUL always contain nicotine. But delivery devices can come in many shapes and sizes such as pens and even hoodie cords. According to the CDC, most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and are highly addictive. As vaping is relatively new, it’s difficult to determine the long-term impact on the brain of a child, which continues to develop until about age 25, and will likely be impacted by such drug use. The age that children are exposed to drug availability may be surprising. “In Navajo County the (average) drug initiation is 12 years old. We are seeing it as early as 8 to 10 years old as well. Our focus prevention education in school is on fourth, fifth and sixth graders but we also provide prevention education to seventh to 12th graders in school,” stated Solomon. With the legalization of recreational marijuana, parents now have the additional responsibility of making sure that children will not have access to drugs within the home. “Lock it up, keep it out of reach, monitor what amounts you have and talk to your youth. Being a responsible adult is vitally important to youth staying healthy and avoiding addictions,” stated Solomon. Last year Navajo County had 23 overdose deaths with 14 involving fentanyl, four, opioids, two methamphetamine and three from non-opioid prescription drugs. So far this year, there have be 16 overdose deaths with three involving fentanyl, four due to methamphetamine use and nine due to non-opioid prescription drugs. Solomon advises parents to not only talk to their kids about the dangers of drugs but to listen to them as well. “We highly recommend parents plugging into what Nexus Coalition has to offer for free. We have parent education classes such as Love and Logic that are held virtually, as well as other resources.” To register for the virtual parenting class contact LAHncdp@gmail.com. For more information on drugs that may impact the youth visit the Nexus Coalition for Drug Prevention website at www.ncdp.rocks.
