Funeral home confirms more local youth dying from drug-related overdoses than decades before

According to CNN, every eight minutes another person dies of an accidental drug overdose, most of the time it’s from fentanyl.

Research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also found the rate of overdose deaths, specifically among adolescents, is increasing.

Their studies found in 2015, over 4,000 youths, ages 15 to 24, died of drug-related overdoses.

Yuma Mortuary Funeral Director, Darren Mattice, confirmed a similar increase locally in Yuma.

Mattice has worked in the funeral industry for over 20 years and said over the past five to 10 years, he’s seen a trend in younger people dying of drug and alcohol addiction.

Mattice said, ” I really didn’t see, honestly truly, a lot of drug-related deaths 10 [or] 12 years ago especially in the youth. Counting alcohol as a drug, I see it more in the last 10 years, maybe even the last five years, than I saw in the previous 10 years combined. ”

Mattice believes the increase in drug-related deaths in local youth have to do with how easy it is to find these deadly drugs in the streets.

Mattice has also seen an increase in suicide deaths among youth within the last ten years in Yuma.

Nationwide, the National Poison Data System confirms suicide is the second-leading cause of death among youth in America.

Suicide attempts by drug overdose have more than doubled in the last decade.