Youth Opioid Prevention
Opioids kill 224 people on average every day. From 1999-2022, nearly 727,000 people died from an opioid overdose. As the opioid epidemic within our communities becomes more pervasive, youth increasingly are the unintended victims. The traumatic experience of growing up within a family and community where substance use and misuse is prevalent, disrupts a young person’s ability to thrive.
We can break the cycle of addiction by focusing on prevention efforts by providing youth-serving organizations like Boys & Girls Clubs with much-needed youth prevention resources. Boys & Girls Clubs can help young people learn how addiction affects their family and friends, how to develop positive feelings about themselves, and how to identify healthy ways to cope.
More support and resources are needed to help meet the need of providing more prevention services to more Clubs; reducing risk factors leading to addiction; and promoting resilience in children, families and communities.
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