{"id":22167,"date":"2025-03-21T13:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?p=22167"},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:25:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T17:25:27","slug":"get-smart-about-drugs-and-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2025\/03\/21\/get-smart-about-drugs-and-alcohol\/","title":{"rendered":"Get smart about drugs and alcohol \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week! The observance focuses on educating young people about the science of drug use and addiction. Whether you\u2019re a teen, a parent, a teacher, or someone who cares about the youth in your life, we can all use more tools for navigating these important topics.<\/p>\n<p>RHHD\u2019s Adolescent Health Coordinator Cindy Pulido says \u201cAlcohol and substance use health education efforts among youth are vital because education on the risks of e-cigarettes, opioids, alcohol, and marijuana, along with tools for navigating these issues, can help youth make informed decisions about what they put into their bodies and how it would affect them physiologically. It also helps protect young people from negative health effects and harmful behaviors.\u201d She shares some information and resources for our community members:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did you know?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tobacco\/e-cigarettes\/youth.html\">youth use e-cigarettes (vapes) more than any other tobacco product<\/a>. Most contain nicotine, which can impact adolescents\u2019 attention, moods, impulse control, and learning. Being a teen is hard enough!<\/li>\n<li>E-cigarettes can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tobacco\/e-cigarettes\/about.html\">designed to look like USB flash drives, pens, smartphones, highlighters, and toys<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/alcohol\/underage-drinking\/index.html\">Alcohol is the most common drug used by people younger than 21.<\/a> CDC estimates that about 4,000 young people die from preventable alcohol-related deaths each year.<\/li>\n<li>In 2024, almost <a href=\"https:\/\/nida.nih.gov\/news-events\/news-releases\/2024\/12\/reported-use-of-most-drugs-among-adolescents-remained-low-in-2024\">26% of high school seniors<\/a> reported using cannabis in the last 12 months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Take a step toward safety<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tobacco\/basic_information\/e-cigarettes\/pdfs\/OSH-E-Cigarettes-and-Youth-What-Parents-Need-to-Know-508.pdf\">Parents and family members<\/a> shape youths\u2019 understanding of alcohol and drugs. If you need help quitting tobacco use yourself, you can connect with <a href=\"https:\/\/quitnowvirginia.org\/\">Quit Now Virginia<\/a>. Richmond residents can also use RHHD\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/free-from-smoking-program\/\">Free From Tobacco program<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Educators can build skills for talking to young people about vaping through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/tobacco\/basic_information\/e-cigarettes\/pdfs\/osh-EVFY-conversation-card-educators-508.pdf\">CDC\u2019s Empower Vape-Free Youth program<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>If you know someone\u2014youth or otherwise\u2014using opioids, equip yourself to stop an overdose. Participate in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/opioids\/\">RHHD\u2019s Rapid REVIVE! training<\/a> and learn how you can access life-saving naloxone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Want to test your knowledge? Cindy recommends taking the <a href=\"https:\/\/create.kahoot.it\/details\/0c339ba3-618a-4fae-a89d-c02a917e33d2\">National Drug &amp; Alcohol IQ Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week! The observance focuses on educating young people about the science of drug use and addiction. Whether you\u2019re a teen, a parent, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":383,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"modified_by":null,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Get smart about drugs and alcohol \u00a0 - Richmond City Health Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2025\/03\/21\/get-smart-about-drugs-and-alcohol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get smart about drugs and alcohol \u00a0 - Richmond City Health Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week is National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week! 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