The days of competition for acceptance to the top universities are upon us as kids across the country pile on the accelerated courses. With that competition, come stress. To cope with that increased amount of stress, teens are turning to dangerous stress relievers in larger numbers.

Among those dangerous stress relievers are drugs. As a result, drug related deaths among teenagers have climbed a staggering total of 19 percent in recent years with the average jumping from 3.1 to 3.7 deaths out of every 100,000 teenagers.

What has caused this latest opioid epidemic among teens and late adolescents? One anonymous teen states “Most people do it because its very relaxing because it gets my mind off of all the stupid school is and how much my teachers suck and the fact that I don’t learn anything.”

Most of the tragedies are accidental and caused by a mix of dangerous chemicals.  The biggest killers were prescribed pain killers and heroin. Due to the dangers surrounding these chemicals, many athletes have chosen not to use them. Olympic Heights wrestler Ethan Davis, junior, states, “I think drugs are bad for you because they put your mind in a state it shouldn’t be in. [Teenagers] start by using pain killers, until it escalates to becoming an addict.”

The amount of deaths concerning prescription drugs has decreased in recent years, but the amount of deaths due to heroin and other lab created opioids has increased tremendously. The number of teen deaths from synthetic drug use has increased by over one-half of one percent in recent years. Overall, the amount of drug related deaths among teens has doubled over the same time.