US Teens Underestimate Risks Of Fentanyl Use, Survey Finds
Last Updated: Friday July 10, 2026
(HealthDay News) U.S. teens are seriously underestimating how lethal the synthetic opioid fentanyl can be, a new study says.
More than half of American eighth-graders don’t think it’s dangerous to experiment with fentanyl, researchers reported July 7 in JAMA Network Open.
In reality, fentanyl is involved in at least 3 out of 4 teen overdose deaths, researchers said.
“The majority of eighth-grade students (52%) did not see great risk in trying fentanyl once or twice,” wrote the team led by Richard Meich, a research professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.