Draper Wellness | City of Draper

Substance Use Prevention

While young adults ages 18-25 have the highest rates of drug use across the board, drug use among adults ages 26-49 is on the rise. Following are some statistics from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The percentage of adults age 26 and older using marijuana daily or almost daily has nearly doubled since 2015.
Cocaine use and death rates have risen; cocaine-involved overdose rates in the U.S. have risen annually since 2012.
Meth use and overdose death rates climbed more than five-fold for those ages 25 to 54 between 2011 and 2018.

Crush the Crisis

Prescription drug misuse is a public health crisis in the United States. Encouragingly, for the first time since 2018, national prescription drug misuse is decreasing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2023 – decreasing 3% from 111,029 deaths estimated in 2022.
According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 5 million people misused prescription pain relievers, 4.8 million people misused prescription tranquilizers or sedatives, and 4.3 million people misused prescription stimulants in 2022. The survey also showed that a majority of misused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.

Know the Risks of Using Drugs

All drug use comes with risk. Know the facts before letting drugs take their toll on you and your family.

Drug use—including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, as well as prescription drug misuse and illicit opioids—among adults is on the rise.

Different drugs pose different dangers. Drug use can lead to dependence and addiction, injury and accidents, health problems, sleep issues, and more. Drug use affects you and those close to you. Know there is help.

Do you or someone you know hide their drugs?

The Risks are Real

The pressures on adults are real. Building careers, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and trying to do it all well comes with a lot of pressure. Some turn to drugs to cope. Just because some drugs are legal, doesn’t mean they are less dangerous.

Over time, the regular or habitual use of drugs becomes a crutch and only adds to the stress. Drugs can also cause other harms, including:

- Cocaine: Highly addictive, cocaine is involved in nearly one in five overdose deaths; its health effects include asthma, bowel decay, and increased risk of HIV.
- Methamphetamine (Meth): Meth causes devastating health effects, and sometimes death, even on the first try. Meth speeds up the body’s systems to dangerous levels. Chronic users experience anxiety, confusion, insomnia, paranoia, aggression, and more.
- Prescription and illicit opioids: Highly addictive, the substances are the top cause of overdose deaths; health effects include confusion, nausea, constipation, coma, and brain damage.
- Marijuana: Even though it is legal in many states, studies link marijuana use to various negative outcomes.

Before the risks become real and before drugs turn your life—and your family—upside down, know there is help. You can quit.

Vaping

A harmful health behavior in Draper among teens and young adults is vaping, or the use of electronic cigarettes. Although vaping is often equated with smoking tobacco since many vaping products contain nicotine, School Resource Officers report that THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) vaping has become more prevalent in schools in recent years.

Canyons School District shared the following data from the Utah Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) survey related to these trends. The SHARP survey is administered to students voluntarily (with parent permission) in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 and asks questions about youth’s experience with risky or harmful behaviors. 52,679 students participated in the survey statewide in 2023. The percentages below reflect lifetime usage for Canyons School District students.

Cigarettes and Vaping Products

6th: 2021 - 3.1%
2023 - 2.4%↓

8th: 2021 - 6.5%
2023 - 2.3%↓

10th: 2021 - 7.9%
2023 - 7.3%↓

12th: 2021 - 9.6%
2023 - 11.3%↑

Although three out of four grades have decreased use since 2021, Canyons School District stats are above the state average, except in 8th grade, where the State is 3.3% higher.

Marijuana

6th: 2021 - 2.3%
2023 - 2.1%↓

8th: 2021 - 7.3%
2023 - 5.3%↓

10th: 2021-13.7%
2023- 14.5%↑

12th: 2021-27.9%
2023- 21.8%↓

Again, although three out of four grades have decreased use since 2021, Canyons School District stats are above the state average.

So, what can we do to help? Talk to kids about the health risks. Ask in a non-judgmental, concerned way if they have tried vaping. Also watch for signs that could be related such as new smells (fruity or other scents), e-cigarette supplies like cartridges, or new health issues like coughing or wheezing. If they are vaping, offer support and motivation to quit. The teenage years are the most important time for brain development so we must do what we can to protect teen brains from harmful substances.