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Opioid Overdose and Poisoning Prevention

Teens make mistakes. Fake pill mistakes can be deadly.

Teens sometimes take pills for innocent reasons: to study harder, sleep better, play in their last football game with their friends or settle their nerves before their first school dance. And they get those pills from places they trust — online or from friends who just want to help. But what they don’t know is that 7 in 10 fake pills teens can find online are laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl. Carrying naloxone can reverse fentanyl poisoning and help save teens from a deadly fake pill mistake.

Drug overdose is a leading cause of injury death among children and young adults in the Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho (WAMI) region. From 2019 to 2022 the rate of deaths involving opioids more than doubled in Washington state alone, with synthetic opioids like fentanyl driving this increase.

Naloxone Saves Lives

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Find naloxone near you:

Naloxone (also known by the brand name NARCAN®) is a safe medicine for all ages that can reverse an opioid overdose. An opioid overdose is when a person gets too much opioid and gets very sleepy or stops breathing. This is a life-threatening emergency. Learn more about how to use naloxone in case of an overdose.

Many preventable overdose deaths happen at home when somebody else, like a friend or family member is present. Having naloxone readily available can save lives.

Talk With Your Teens About Fentanyl

A graphic of an older adult man talking to a female teenager Teens may not fully question the source or strength of fake pills or other substances that appear to be legitimate and safe but are laced with illicit fentanyl. Fentanyl has no taste or smell and you can’t see it in pills or powders.

Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. An amount as small as the size of two grains of salt can cause an overdose.  

Most teens say they trust their parents or caregivers more than anyone when it comes to information and advice about drugs. Talk to the teen in your life about how experimenting with drugs can hurt them and their future. See Talk to Teens About Fentanyl Conversation Guide from Washington Friends for Life. The guide is also available in Spanish.

Securely Store and Dispose of Medicines

Medicines, including prescription and over the counter, can do a lot of good, but they can cause harm if they get in the wrong hands or are used the wrong way. Doses and side effects of medicines can vary from person to person, so you should not use medicines that were prescribed for someone else. Learn more about what you can do to prevent medicine misuse.

Younger children can also get into pills or substances laced with fentanyl when they are left within reach. Store medicines and other unsafe products out of reach or in a locked cabinet.

Smiling people behind a table covered in brochuresSeattle Children’s aims to reduce overdoses and poisonings by:

  • Promoting education and resources to respond to the opioid crisis among young people.
  • Supporting community-led activities to educate adults and young people on opioid overdose and poisoning recognition, response and prevention.
  • Facilitating access to education and resources for safe medicine storage and disposal.
  • Partnering with healthcare providers to reduce stigma around patient substance use, understand trends in pediatric opioid use and support professional training on safely treating pediatric substance use disorder.

Resources for Healthcare Professionals

There are several different types of medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for opioid overdose, withdrawal, and addiction – all of which are safe, effective, and save lives. Find providers who can prescribe these medicines for adolescents through the Washington Recovery Help Line.

ScalaNW offers a wide range of resources for clinicians including adolescent buprenorphine initiation for patients 13 and older.

More Opioid Awareness and Prevention Resources