One of the most impactful and devastating stories I heard first-hand from a father named Greg. His young daughter started using drugs at age 14. She died at age 15. The widespread impact was that her group of friends was using drugs together. One of the kids in the friend group is still living. She said that they did start off by getting Dillies, which is the street name for Dilaudid, for hydromorphone. They did think it was safe.
They started to become sick. At first they started off by taking it once in a while, then they started feeling the need to take it more. Then it came to the point where if they stopped taking it, they would feel sick. When the withdrawals were no longer being managed, even just by taking the Dillies, the one girl who actually survived started taking fentanyl. Even though she had access then to OAT, she still continues to use drugs now. I know her mother very well. It is an absolutely awful journey that they're on.
There are not enough supports and services, but this is widespread. Especially when we're talking about kids or even young adults or adults, it's affecting their friend groups.
I think one of the biggest things that's really concerning to me.... If I can just read this into the record, this is actually from Purdue Pharma. This is their patient medication information. It says:
Never give anyone your DILAUDID. They could die from taking it. If a person has not been prescribed DILAUDID, taking even one dose can cause a fatal overdose. This is especially true for children.
It also says:
Even if you take DILAUDID as prescribed you are at a risk for opioid addiction, abuse and misuse. This can lead to overdose and death. To understand your risk of opioid addiction, abuse, and misuse you should speak to your prescriber
My concern is the lack of research on this—