Commentary: ‘Just say no’ can kill kids. Teach them how to stay safe in the fentanyl era

Melanie Ramos was only 15 years old when she died of a suspected overdose in a high school bathroom in Hollywood. Police reported that she and a friend had purchased pills they thought were prescription painkillers but which were likely fakes containing fentanyl, a potent opioid incorporated into counterfeit pills widely available in the illicit drug market.

Fentanyl has caused such overdoses to despite declining drug use among young people. Recent data suggest it kills an average of 22 teens every week around the nation. in the New England Journal of Medicine, we found that fatal overdoses among U.S. teens aged 14-18 hit an all-time high in 2022.