High numbers of youth report using prescription opioids in the past year

(Boston Children's Hospital) A new analysis of US data finds an unexpectedly high prevalence of prescription opioid use among youth. As recently as 2015-2016, 21% of adolescents and 32% of young adults said they had used these drugs in the past year. Nearly 4 percent and 8 percent, respectively, reported misusing opioids. Findings were published Nov. 5 in PLoS Medicine.