Learn About Substances

We know that drinking too much can harm your health. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that if adults (age 21 and older) choose to drink alcohol, drinking less is better for health than drinking more.

Marijuana use comes with risks to health. Today’s marijuana is stronger than ever before. States that have legalized marijuana regulate the drug in widely different ways ― and often it’s not being checked for its ingredients, purity, strength, or safety.

Opioid overdose is life-threatening. Overdose can happen, even with a prescription opioid. Naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose.

Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body ― heart and blood vessel disease; lung disease; cancer (almost anywhere in your body); and impacts to your bones, eyes, teeth, gums, fertility and pregnancy.

Methamphetamine (meth) is a synthetic stimulant that is addictive and can cause considerable health adversities that can sometimes result in death. Meth can be smoked, snorted, injected, or taken orally and is often used with other substances.

Drug use—including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, as well as prescription drug misuse and illicit opioids—among adults is on the rise. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased drug use.