#youth-substance-use

#youth-substance-use

"Every sort of physical manifestation, like the foam coming from the mouth and nose, as if they had an overdose. Their blood tested negative for any substance, which was very odd."

Giving up alcohol feels like progress. But if you're reaching for cannabis instead, you haven't changed the pattern-just the packaging.

These results raise major questions about the effectiveness of Australia's social media ban and show it would be a high stakes gamble for the UK to follow suit now.

The reason people use drugs of any kind is because they want to escape, Delaney says. I had suicidal ideations from a very, very young age because I assumed that, if I was dead, maybe my mum and dad wouldn't be arguing.

No longer is gambling confined to Las Vegas casinos. A 2018 landmark ruling by the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, opening the doors to new types of online gambling and games of chance. 'Young boys are largely being pulled into this universe online by algorithmically sent messages,' said Steyer of online games that include chances to open loot boxes and 'win' a prize. 'It seems so innocent, but in fact, it's no different than going into a casino and putting down five or $20 on a hand of blackjack.'

The number of suicides per 100,000 young people ages 10 to 24 declined by nearly 12 percent, from 11 to 9.7, between 2021 and 2024. The decrease was driven largely by reductions among young men, whose suicide levels fell by nearly 15 percent, while suicides among young women declined by about 2 percent.

The Alaska Department of Corrections does not provide comprehensive access to this life saving medication. "I'm gonna give you a little pinch," Spencer said, sliding the needle into a fold of skin on the patient's belly for the subcutaneous injection. Alaska's not an outlier. Despite the fact that those recently released from incarceration are some of the most vulnerable to dying from drug overdose, addiction experts say that many jails and prisons around the country don't provide medication treatment.

Some experts have mischaracterized smoking fentanyl as "safer" than injecting, seeking to reduce risks among users. Narrowly considered, the statement is accurate, as inhalation avoids needle-sharing, reducing risks for HIV, hepatitis C, bacteremia, abscess formation, and infective endocarditis among users. However, there's no clinical-trial-level evidence (randomized trials with real patients) showing smoking illicit fentanyl is safer than injecting it. It isn't, and that conclusion is unsupported by toxicology, environmental exposure science, or emerging data.

For decades, addiction treatment in the United States has relied on a familiar explanation when people relapse: recovery is hard, addiction is chronic and setbacks are part of the process. That narrative is often delivered with compassion, but it can obscure a more troubling reality. Many treatment failures are not personal shortcomings. They are predictable outcomes of how recovery is currently designed.

The day I turned 16, I picked up two things - my driver's license and a $1.98 pack of Kool 100 Milds from a gas station I knew would sell to me. It was 1995, and I still remember the freedom and rebellion alive in my heart while my hair blew in the wind. From the window of her mom's LeBaron convertible, my friend and I flicked our cigarettes and seemingly our adolescent troubles with them.

Opening arguments began this week in a landmark case, among the first in a tsunami of lawsuits over possible harm to children and adolescents caused by social media, video games and artificial intelligence. In the current case, a young woman alleges that she became addicted to social-media platforms as a child, causing the anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia that she lives with today.

Dilated pupils, high on camera and often alone. On TikTok, more and more young people are publicly filming their drug use. The videos reach millions, often under a single hashtag: #Pingtok. The trend reflects a new visibility of drug use on social media. What once happened behind closed doors is now filmed, aestheticized and shared publicly sometimes with life-threatening consequences, and often unnoticed by parents.