>In a Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) editorial [published Monday](https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251682), physicians Shannon Charlebois and Shawn Kelly say the escalation of opioid use among youth is being overlooked. Existing addiction services, they say, are also inadequate to meet the needs of young people with opioid use disorder, or OUD.
>“Health systems’ inaction and lack of investment to provide evidence-based addictions services for youth is inexcusable,” the editorial says. “Physicians who treat youth need support to be able to care for their patients with OUD. Anything less represents complicity in the next decade of preventable deaths.”
>The latest Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which anonymously surveyed more than 10,000 students, found that 21.8 per cent used prescription opioids in 2023, up from 12.7 per cent in 2021. Students in Grades 7 to 9 were more likely to report use than those in Grades 10 to 12.
>Dr. Kelly sees youth with opioid use disorder in his office often. He said he’s particularly concerned with the increasing popularity of hydromorphone, sold under the brand name Dilaudid.
>“There’s just been a cultural shift and opioids have become a much more real part of some people’s high school experience than it ever was before,” he said in an interview.
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>In a Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) editorial [published Monday](https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251682), physicians Shannon Charlebois and Shawn Kelly say the escalation of opioid use among youth is being overlooked. Existing addiction services, they say, are also inadequate to meet the needs of young people with opioid use disorder, or OUD.
>“Health systems’ inaction and lack of investment to provide evidence-based addictions services for youth is inexcusable,” the editorial says. “Physicians who treat youth need support to be able to care for their patients with OUD. Anything less represents complicity in the next decade of preventable deaths.”
>The latest Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which anonymously surveyed more than 10,000 students, found that 21.8 per cent used prescription opioids in 2023, up from 12.7 per cent in 2021. Students in Grades 7 to 9 were more likely to report use than those in Grades 10 to 12.
>In British Columbia, the editorial says, unregulated drugs were the leading cause of death among 15- to 18-year-olds in 2021. Provincial data [show](https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMTAxNDJmM2YtYjMxMS00Yzk5LWFmYTktMzM4ZmE2MzRlYzUxIiwidCI6IjZmZGI1MjAwLTNkMGQtNGE4YS1iMDM2LWQzNjg1ZTM1OWFkYyJ9) 29 children under 18 died that year from drug poisonings. Youth deaths have been increasing in the province since 2016, according to a [report](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/statistical/youth_unregulated_drug_toxicity_deaths_in_bc_2019-2023.pdf) from last year.
>Dr. Kelly sees youth with opioid use disorder in his office often. He said he’s particularly concerned with the increasing popularity of hydromorphone, sold under the brand name Dilaudid.
>“There’s just been a cultural shift and opioids have become a much more real part of some people’s high school experience than it ever was before,” he said in an interview.
!ping Can&Health-policy