A concerning new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that despite greater public awareness and efforts to combat illicit drug use, it continues to rise among teens, especially with opioids. The number of drug overdose deaths in teens between 15 and 19 rose 15 percent for boys from 2014 to 201 and 3 percent for girls over that same time period, according to the CDC report.

It comes at a time when the nation is struggling with what has been termed an opioid epidemic, and experts think that these numbers may indicate that the epidemic is spreading to another age group.

“These trends fit into the overall picture: Overdose of opioid pills is the bigger problem among middle age and older age groups, while heroin and heroin contaminated by fentanyl are a huge problem among younger people,” said Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, a drug use expert who was quoted by CBS News.