Synthetic drug potency increases, raising overdose risks for youth

As synthetic drugs increase in potency, overdoses pose an even greater threat, and some experts are sounding the alarm about the escalating risks this presents for young people.

"Substances that are circulating are getting stronger and stronger," says Dr. Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician specializing in addiction medicine at Sainte-Justine Hospital.

According to Chadi, children as young as 11 years old are increasingly exposed to these synthetic drugs.

"It can be drugs like prescription medications used non-medically or simply illicit drugs like opioids or different sedatives," he says.

While he says research shows young Quebecers are using fewer drugs than 20 years ago, those who do have increasing access to more powerful synthetic substances.

"The fact that one pill can be so strong that it can lead to overdose is quite concerning," adds the pediatrician.

He also points to statistics in Western Canada, where drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among B.C. youth aged 10 to 18 years old.

"This isn't a trend that we've documented in Quebec or Ontario yet but we are hearing anecdotal cases of very young people using pills for the first time and having an overdose," says Dr Chadi.

Just as was the case of 15-year-old Mathis Boivin, a Montreal teenager who died last December after ingesting a synthetic opioid.

It's a worrying trend in Quebec, says Quebec's Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant.

"Nearly every year we see an increase in the number of overdoses and deaths," said Carmant during a news conference on Friday.

A new agreement between Quebec and Ottawa announced this week provides almost $87 million to support Quebec's efforts to address addiction, the prevention of overdoses and reduce substance-use harms.

Carmant says he welcomes this boost from the federal government but believes more is needed in terms of prevention.

"What we need to do is to better organize our services so we can get people to stop using these drugs," he says. "We have to do everything together — safe consumption, as well providing more services."

Just like the various approaches to prevention, it's crucial to recognize the different forms of consumption, says Louis-Georges Cournoyer, a professor in criminology and youth mental health at Université de Montréal.

"There are different kind of environments [in which youths use drugs]," says Cournoyer. "They might try drugs with friends or do them on their own and depending on the context, the [possible] addiction will progress differently."

For young people, turning to drugs might be a form of escapism, he says. "Is it from a difficult family situation or from social exclusion? Or is it because they've been bullied at school?"

He explains that relying on drugs to avoid reality becomes a vicious circle that can lead to addiction.

"For a very small moment, [those who consume drugs] feel relief, they feel better and that's the trap they can get in," adds Cournoyer.

Rabbi Benyamin Bresinger sees this firsthand at Chabad Lifeline, a non-profit that offers mental health services such as addiction counselling.

"It used to be that you would have to hide your alcohol if you are a parent because kids would raid your bar — now it's the medicine cabinet that the kids are raiding," says Bresinger. "And they're looking for anything they can find."

The Director of Chabad Lifeline believes feelings of isolation are a strong driving force behind this phenomenon.

"Young people who come to see us come in feeling very alone, feeling out of control and scared — there's a lot of fear going on," he adds.

This is why Bresinger is calling on everyone to play their part.

The community has to become that advocate," he says. "Let's bet hose advocates because that's what we have to be as a society — I think that's all our responsibility."