IN-DEPTH: Drug Crisis Puts Lives of Adolescents in Jeopardy, Help Not on the Way

Recent data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) revealed that, while reported cases of illegal drug use among adolescents in 2023 remain below pre-pandemic levels, the rate of deaths due to drug overdose has risen. The Dec. 13 press release revealed the percentage of adolescents admitting to using illegal substances in 2023—10.9 percent of eighth graders, 19.8 percent of tenth graders, and 31.2 percent of twelfth graders—remained below levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, according to the latest results from the Monitoring the Future Survey conducted by the NIDA. A March 2023 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics analyzed data on deaths attributed to poisonings from 40 states, which participated in the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System. The children in the study ranged in age from infant to five years old, and the time frame was between 2005 to 2018....