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Youth Current Heroin Use

Summary Indicator Report Data View Options

The rate of lifetime heroin use by youth has not significantly varied in recent years, neither in New Mexico nor the US. The NM rate for lifetime heroin use has been consistently higher than the US rate. This remained true in 2015, with a rate of 3.5% for NM and 2.1% for the US. For current heroin use, there is no apparent trend in the New Mexico rate. There is no national comparison for current heroin use.

Why Is This Important?

Substance abuse among youth remains a major public health problem. Substance use and abuse can increase the risk for injuries, violence, HIV infection, and other diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/alcoholdrug).

Definition

Youth current heroin use is defined as a youth in grades 9-12 in a NM public school who reported that they used heroin at least once in the past 30 days.

Data Source

New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey, New Mexico Department of Health and Public Education Department.

How the Measure is Calculated

Numerator:Number of youth reporting current heroin use
Denominator:Total number of youth participating in the YRRS

Other Objectives

Substance Abuse Epidemiology Report Indicator

Indicator Data Last Updated On 05/20/2021, Published on 05/28/2021
Substance Use Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 S. Saint Francis Drive, Room N-1103, Santa Fe, NM, 87502. Contact Annaliese Mayette, Alcohol Epidemiologist, by telephone at (505) 476-1788 or email to Annaliese.Mayette@state.nm.us.