Overdoses have been rising, including among children. At a Wednesday interim study focused on adolescent substance abuse, Tulsa social worker Brittne Thompson said the increase in overdoses among kids is being driven by a familiar culprit.
“When we look at what has caused most of the overdose deaths within teenagers in 2021, 77% of those deaths were tied to fentanyl,” said Thompson.
Stephanie Morcom from Duncan, who founded a support group for families, said one possible way to get more kids treatment is higher SoonerCare payments to providers.
“We need to make sure the providers can at least keep the lights on. I think if providers were being reimbursed at a rate that allowed them to at least break even, we would have more providers willing to start offering these services,” said Morcom.
Morcom and Thompson also mentioned allowing parents to sign their children into treatment as another possible solution to adolescent substance abuse. Currently, children can refuse treatment even if their parents want it.