OPIOID CRISIS

From 1999 to 2015, while America was grappling with wars in

Iraq and Afghanistan, and the worst economic crisis since the

Depression, another tragedy quietly unfolded — the death rate of

teenagers overdosing on drugs more than doubled.

In 2015 alone, there were 772 drug overdose deaths for adolescents

ages 15 through 19 and they died at a rate of 3.7 per 100,000,

according to figures newly released Wednesday from the federal

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“For both male and female adolescents, the majority of drug overdose

deaths in 2015 were unintentional,” the CDC report states.

And the chief culprits that year were the same drugs that the National Institute on Drug Abuse say killed a total 35,000 Americans of all

ages across the country — opioids, specifically heroin.

"Drug deaths are rising very rapidly for this group (although not as

fast as at slightly older ages) and opioid analgesics and particularly

heroin and fentanyl are the most important contributors," Dr.

Christopher Ruhm, author of a recent University of Virginia study

which found the national overdose crisis may be even worse than

reported, wrote in an email to NBC News.

Ruhm said he expects the death toll for 15- to 19-year-olds will

likely be higher after the CDC compiles its figures for 2016 and 2017.

"Not, primarily, because of opioid analgesics but rather because of

rapid growth in deaths due to heroin and (often unintentionally)

fentanyl use," he wrote. "Prescription opioids have played a role in all

of this earlier, particularly in establishing patterns that led to increased

heroin use."

In response to growing demands for action, President Donald Trump

this month declared a national emergency. But this is a crisis that was brewing long before he took office in January.