While VCRs, answering machines and Polaroids have been replaced by Netflix, texting and selfies, studies suggest that kids today are also doing a better job staying away from drugs and alcohol than their parents did. While heroin abuse may be on the rise in the country, teen opioid abuse seems to be on the decline.
According to one report, only 35% of teens said they’ve used any illicit kid of drug during their lifetime, a 6% decline from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
From 2014 to 2015, the rate of teen overdose deaths rose 19% in the United States. Most of the overdoses were found to involve highly potent and dangerous drugs such as prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl.
A 2016 report by the National Institute of Drug Abuse found that past-year use of illicit drugs other than Marijuana was at an all-time low for the three grades that they surveyed: 8th graders, 10th grader, and 12th graders. The peak usage for all three age groups occurred between 1995 and 2001, and the current all-time low drug use levels are generally seen as encouraging that drug abuse education is having an impact on decreasing abuse in our nation’s youngest demographic groups.
Still, many researchers point to the fact that more and more young people have been dying from drug overdoses that there is still a severe drug problem among American teens, particularly due to the increase in potency of the drugs available to teenagers.
From 2014 to 2015, the rate of teen overdose deaths rose 19% in the United States. Most of the overdoses were found to involve highly potent and dangerous drugs such as prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl.
The lethality of the drugs being abused by teens make inpatient detox and rehab programs that much more important for treating drug abuse in our youth before it becomes a deadly reality.
The Rise of Teen Opioid Abuse
While the percentage of young people who take a prescribed drug has remained steady since 1988, studies show that the types of treatment have changed drastically. In 1988, more of those prescriptions were for shorter-term remedies, such as penicillin, while in 2017, far more prescriptions are given for long-term mental health issues such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
In fact, studies show that in 2015, about 11% of children were diagnosed with ADHD, a 7% rise from just the previous year alone. In 1994, less than 1% of kids were diagnosed with ADHD.
While there is a running debate among medical professionals as to whether exposure to ADHD drugs can serve as a “gateway drug” among teens, there is no arguing that prescription drug addiction is on the rise in the U.S. among teens and adults.
Research backs up this claim. In 2014, 13% of high school students admitted that they had abused a prescribed drug during their lifetime, and almost 4% said they abused a prescribed drug within 30 days at the time the survey was taken.
Are You Looking for Information About Inpatient Rehab for a Young Person?
The world is already a scary place for our kids to grow up in, and when you throw in the dangers of teen opioid abuse, it’s enough to make parents, guardians, grandparents and teachers anxious about the next generation.
At Morningside Recovery, we offer a wide range of resources that can help people get back on track, including a state-of-the-art inpatient rehab center with a medically supervised drug detox program.
In addition, we encourage you to bring your pet along for your treatment because you don’t have to walk the road to sobriety alone.
For more information about how we can help you get clean, call us at 855-631-2135. Our helpline is open 24/7 and our specialists will work with you to help find the treatment option that works for you.
