As the number of drug overdose deaths in Allen County increased 93 percent between 2008 and 2015, researchers found that every overdose victim age 20 or younger did so with others present.
Between 2008 and 2015, eight people 20 years old or younger died from a drug overdose, according to figures presented Monday to the Fort Wayne-Allen County Board of Health. Every one of those victims did so in the presence of someone else, according to local researchers. The reason is most likely social, health Commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan said.
Making overdose-reversing measures such as Narcan more easily available, expanding the state’s Good Samaritan law – which protects those who call 911 to assist in emergency situations from liability or criminal prosecution – and more education about the dangers of opioid use could help reduce the number of overdose deaths among that young age group.
Part of the issue, McMahan said, is that the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which helps a person make good decisions, is not fully mature until a person reaches about age 25.
“We need to do everything we can to help kids who are 14, 15, 16, 17, who maybe haven’t got that fully robust prefrontal cortex understand as best we can the risk,” McMahan said. “And I’m not sure we’re doing the best we can yet.”
The group age 30 to 39 had the second-highest rate of overdosing with someone present at about 65 percent, researchers found. That was followed closely by those age 40 to 49 at 62 percent. Of the 418 total overdose deaths in Allen County during the years studied, 240 – or 57.4 percent – overdosed in the presence of other people.