Opioid use among kids in grades 7-12 doubled in 2 years: OPH

The number of children in grades 7 to 12 using opioids in Ottawa roughly doubled from 2021 to 2023, according to recent data from Ottawa Public Health (OPH) and the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction.

Ten per cent of students in those grades reported using the highly addictive drugs without a prescription in 2021, according to OPH's presentation last Monday to the city's board of health.

In 2023, the most recent year data was available, that number jumped to 20 per cent. It mirrors an Ontario-wide trend, with the percentage for that group jumping from 13 to 22 per cent over the same period.

"It's disappointing to hear, but it's not surprising," said Paige O'Leary, who would once have been included in that statistic.

Now 24 and sober, O'Leary became addicted to opioids as a teenager living in Kanata, specifically Percocet and fentanyl.

"Just knowing how bad it was when I was in high school, I just can't even imagine how bad it is today," she told CBC.

Several local parents also said they're not surprised by the increase.

Calla Barnett, who attended last week's meeting as a delegate, said she's "known for quite a while" that opioid use is rising.

Her child, a grade 7 student, has been offered drugs on the street, she said.

"I just don't have words [for the fact] that they're exposed to those things so young," Barnett said. "I'm pretty angry."

'There's just no help'

Paige O'Leary's story reached the headlines in 2017 after her father Sean wrote an open letter about the drug problem among young people in the community.

After it went viral, he tried to advocate for solutions to the opioid crisis, while connecting with other struggling parents.

Part of the problem, he said, is that families even now feel lost trying to navigate a system not designed to treat kids with addictions.

"There's just no help," he said. "And there's still not."

When Sean O'Leary tried to get help for his daughter, he found that addictions treatment services weren't usually designed for children — and that children's services weren't usually designed to manage addiction. 

"First thing [parents] do is call CHEO," he said, referring to eastern Ontario's children's hospital.

"Unless your kids tell them they're going to harm themselves or kill themselves, there's nothing CHEO can do. They just let them back out."

To help his daughter break her addiction, Sean O'Leary said he, his wife and his mother-in-law spent three or four days with her at home, watching over her 24/7. There was nowhere in Ottawa to "get detox for a minor," he said.

Paige O'Leary said she remembered long waiting lists to access psychologists and other types of support.

"I'm so lucky to have had my own family to help navigate the system," she said. "Because I can't imagine going through that without them."

But parents don't have to navigate that system alone, said Trisha Islam, the director for infant, child and youth work at United Way East Ontario.

Parents facing a "complex case" should seek professionals like school guidance counsellors who are connected to the larger network of support and health-care providers, she said.

"Let them navigate the system for you, but come into the system so that we can support you," she said.

There's also mental health and addictions counselling available for students in every public high school in Ottawa, Islam added, as part of an initiative dubbed Project Step.

Prevention efforts needed

For Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante, who attended the board of health's meeting as a delegate, her priority is to ensure kids never turn to drugs in the first place.

"When I go to the OPH website, I do not see anything about prevention," she said, noting she'd like to see information available for parents about how kids get drugs and what kinds they're accessing.

Barnett and another mother, Anya Fraser, told CBC they were concerned about ensuring drugs from a safer supply site don't reach children. 

Several experts have told CBC, however, that the evidence doesn't support the idea that those drugs end up in the hands of young people.

The data presented by OPH shows the teens are using prescription opioids — such as Percocet, OxyNEO and Dilaudid — without a prescription.

As for Paige O'Leary, she mostly bought drugs from her peers, adding that schools should pay more attention to figure out which kids are selling them.

She also said she didn't know how dangerous those drugs were. Talking more to kids about drugs — and how alcohol can serve as a gateway — would help, she said.

Today, O'Leary still sees a counsellor at Pathways, a treatment centre in Renfrew County. They're a "huge support," she said.

"Even though I'm sober," she said, "I still do struggle sometimes."

READ | Data presented to Ottawa's board of health: