Young people’s rates of sadness, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts are on the rise, and adolescent deaths from drug poisoning are also on the rise, providing more and more proof that our country’s kids are dealing with a mental health crisis.
By the end of 2021, there were more than twice as many teenagers dying each month from opioid overdoses, and 84% of these deaths involved illegal fentanyl, including bogus prescription tablets.
Of these young people, 2 out of 5 also struggled with mental health concerns. However, in 2021, very few individuals aged 12 to 17 who had both a mental health illness and a substance use disorder received treatment for both conditions.
Barriers to care, stigma towards these disorders, and families not knowing where to turn for assistance all played a part.
As medical professionals, we have witnessed firsthand how the twin crises of untreated mental illness and risky substance use are claiming the lives of young people and destroying families all throughout America.
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The Deadly Impact Of Drugs And Untreated Mental Health
The most lethal drug supply we have ever seen and the reality that not enough young people have access to the care and prevention we know can be beneficial are what are driving this.
Simply put, it has left far too many families, friends, and parents lamenting the loss of loved ones while also attempting to determine how these tragedies might have been avoided.
President Joe Biden has made addressing both mental health and substance addiction a high priority.
To that end, he has taken significant steps to improve access to life-saving public health services and committed billions of dollars in local communities.
This is due to the fact that mental health and substance use disorders are not concerns unique to red or blue states. They are not matters of race or gender, urban or rural, or wealth or poverty.
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Source: www.msn.com