An accidental drug overdose has been the confirmed cause of rapper Juice WRLD’s tragic death on December 8th. Medical examiners reported that toxic amounts of oxycodone and codeine, both prescription opioids, had been consumed.
Just six days prior, the rapper had celebrated his 21st birthday.
This is not the first of highly acclaimed young artists to have passed away recently from accidental opioid overdose: Mac Miller, Lexii Alijai, Lil Peep. All performers within their 20s, these deaths have been acknowledged and mourned.
However, these make up only a fraction of opioid overdoses occurring annually in the United States. According to the National Health Center for Statistics, 67.8% of fatal drug overdoses in 2018 involved opioids, averaging to about 120 deaths per day.
With college-aged students as the largest population using opioids for nonmedical purposes according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), there is heightened concern in the face of the opioid epidemic plaguing the country.
“We see a very sharp uptick in consumption of opioids during the transition from 18 to 24 year of age,” says Dr. Volkow, a psychiatrist and director of the NIDA.
Opioids, from prescribed painkillers to illegal substances like heroin, have carried a history of abuse since the 1990s; between 1999 and 2008, the amount of opioid overdoses quadrupled according to a study.
With the ability to mask pain, amplify feelings of euphoria, and calm the mind, these addictive drugs don’t simply alter the perceived reality of its user, but the brain itself.
When a person takes opioids, a large amount of the chemical dopamine floods to an area of the brain associated with reward. Normally, dopamine is transmitted when something intrinsically pleasurable happens, whether that be watching a funny movie, petting a dog, or eating dessert. But as drug use increases, the brain requires more and more activation to release as much dopamine.
Suddenly, the dosage originally consumed is not enough to experience those same euphoric feelings. As the use of opioids increases, so does the need to increase the dosage. Consequently, those previously pleasurable experiences no longer feel as rewarding.
“Imagine what it must be like if everyday actions, like reading books or going to the movies or meeting friends,” says Volkow, “no longer activate the reward system and only the consumption of drugs excites you.”
This increased opioid use in turn may result in administering amounts higher than the body can process, resulting in accidental deaths.
Limiting access to opioids, specifically to the age group most susceptible to initiating abuse, is crucial.
“The younger you start, the greater is the addiction risk,” says Volkow.
Unfortunately, many young people, including Juice WRLD, have fallen victim to the deteriorating effects opioids have on both the body and mind. Just a year prior to his death, his song “Legends,” written as a tribute to Lil Peep, contained a harrowing foreshadowing.
“They tell me I’ma be a legend/ I don’t want that title now/ ‘Cause all the legends seem to die out.”
Word Count: 499
Reporting Index:
https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2020/02/juice-wrld-cause-death-oxycodone-codeine-overdose/
https://www.medicinenet.com/oxycodone_vs_codeine/article.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17525040
https://wakeforest.instructure.com/courses/10127/files/261713?module_item_id=31943
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743519304554?via%3Dihub
Science Journalism- Abby Vogeley 