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This issue centers on new national survey data showing substance use disorder rates declined nationally from 2021 to 2025, even as the persistent treatment gap remains unaddressed. Coverage also looks at how families can support a loved one through recovery, a virtual intervention shown to reduce substance use among American Indian and Alaska Native young adults, and new research linking longer jail stays to a rise in inmate deaths.
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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released the latest edition of its National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is the source of most national statistics related to drugs, treatment and mental health. This time the annual-ish behavioral health survey is framed as a five-year trend report covering 2021 to 2025, which somewhat compounds the preexisting barriers to gleaning anything useful from it.
Geisinger
When a loved one begins treatment for a substance use disorder, families can be a powerful force for change. Your encouragement, consistency and support can help your loved one stay engaged in treatment, develop healthier routines and lower their risk of relapse.
Medscape
The prevalence of substance use disorder and alcohol use disorder declined in the U.S. from 2021 to 2025, with particularly encouraging trends among adolescents and young adults. New data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that among people aged 12 years or older, the prevalence of past-year substance use disorder decreased from 16.7% in 2021 to 15.3% in 2025, while AUD declined from 10.6% to 8.9%.
National Institutes of Health via Medical Xpress
A clinical trial has demonstrated that a virtual prevention intervention reduced cannabis and alcohol use among American Indian and Alaska Native emerging adults. In this study, published in JAMA Network Open, researchers tested the efficacy of a program called Traditions and Connections for Urban Native Americans that blends evidence-based and traditional practices to prevent substance use and bolster cultural connections.
Research Links Longer Jail Stays to Rise in LA Jail Deaths
Mirage News
The effects of stress, depression and inadequate healthcare in the Los Angeles County Jail — a blanket term widely used for the county's eight facilities — build up into lethal risk, a new study led by UCLA researchers has found. The researchers discovered that most deaths in the LA County Jail occur after a person has been in jail for several weeks.
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
Opioid use disorder is part of the broader spectrum of substance use disorders often complicated by psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and sleep disturbances, with insomnia being particularly frequent. These psychiatric symptoms may act as precipitating factors and consequences of opioid use disorder, reinforcing a complex bidirectional relationship that complicates treatment and recovery.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Adolescents participating in sports are at an increased risk of concussion, which is particularly important given the difficulties with cognitive function, emotion regulation and impulsivity that may occur as a result of this brain injury. These symptoms can predispose adolescents to subsequent concussions, leading to further damage during a critical time in neurodevelopment which can result in mental health disorder development in adulthood.