OPINION: Opioid awareness is vital to saving Alaska’s young people

Opioid awareness has to take center stage to provide students with essential knowledge to make informed decisions about their health and well-being. However, currently there are no health standards regarding drug education, specifically opioids and fentanyl in the Alaska school health curriculum, because it has not been updated since 2017.

There should be no doubt: We have to equip and arm our youth with vital information about opioids, especially fentanyl. We cannot ignore the most recent report of the biggest drug trafficking bust in Alaska history. The U.S. Attorney of the District of Alaska, along with its law enforcement partners, intercepted large amounts of drugs, especially fentanyl.

Yes, it is a crisis that is killing our youth. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that every week in 2022, the equivalent of a high school classroom worth of students — an average of 22 adolescents — died of a drug overdose in the U.S. In addition, drug overdoses are now the third leading cause of pediatric deaths. And 40% of those overdoses were due to youth seeking and self-medicating with drugs to manage their mental health and trauma symptoms.

It is commendable that state government and public health efforts have provided life-saving antidotes to an overdose with the distribution of naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips. And some clinics and centers support medical care for the detoxification and treatment of an opioid disorder, along with rehabilitation.

Now, the focus has to be on opioid awareness with youth before they experience adverse, dangerous and deadly outcomes. I strongly believe that opioid awareness has to consist of honest, current and accurate information to navigate and ensure they understand one pill can kill.

Due to the deadly opioid epidemic, it is a critical period to prevent drug use in youth not only to avoid addiction but more importantly, to know one mistake could mean a fatal overdose and death.

The time is now to implement opioid awareness in public schools by our state legislators to avoid the tragic death of a child with the loss and grief a family would experience.

I urge government officials, school districts, public health and policymakers to realize we have youth that are at high risk for overdose due to the powerful synthetic drug fentanyl. Fentanyl has contaminated heroin, cocaine and meth, along with counterfeit prescription pills like Percocet, Xanax, Oxycontin and even Adderall.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has reported seven out of 10 counterfeit pills have a potentially lethal dose. It only takes 2 mg of fentanyl to be fatal — that amount fits on the end of a pencil tip.

We have to fully embark on opioid awareness as an upstream primary prevention outcome to defeat this growing and increasing drug epidemic with Fentanyl. We have to save youth from one fatal mistake.

In addition, the Alaska Department of Education has to update the state health curriculum to reflect the most current and accurate drug education, especially regarding Fentanyl.

Please consider calling your legislator to support House Bill 6: Opioid Awareness in Public Schools.

Michael Carson is vice president and Recovery Specialist at MYHouse of Mat-Su, as well as chair of the Mat-Su Youth Task Force.

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