JUST THINK TWICE

HEROIN ABUSE:

• The vast majority of teens do not use heroin. In a 2018 national survey, only 0.4% of 12th graders used heroin in the past year.[1] 
• 96.4 percent of 12th graders disapprove of taking heroin occasionally.[1]
• About 165,000 young people between 18 to 25 reported having a heroin use disorder in the past year.[2]

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE:

• Prescription opioid analgesics, specifically those containing oxycodone and hydrocodone, are the most common types of prescription drugs that are diverted for misuse and abused.
• Each day in the United States, over 192 people die as a result of a drug overdose.[3] 
• In 2017, an estimated 3.2 million people (aged 12 or older) reported current misuse of pain relievers.[4]  
• 53% of nonmedical users (12 years or older) reported receiving the prescription drugs they most recently used “from a friend or relative for free.”[5] 

FENTANYL

• Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine.
• Drug deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (which includes fentanyl) increased almost 47% from 2016 to 2017.[6]

¹ Source: University of Michigan, 2018 Monitoring the Future Study. View source here.

² Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2018.  View source here.

³ Source: Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2013–2017. View source here.

⁴ Source: Prescription Drug Use and Misuse in the United States: Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, September 2018.  View source here.

⁵ Source: Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2010–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 16 December 2016. View source here.

⁶ Source: “Fentanyl: Illicitly-made fentanyl use is on the rise." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. View source here.