If you’ve ever been to an AA or NA meeting, you know the ritual: The group breaks and half the room heads outside to smoke. It’s one of the most recognized features of the recovery community — so common it’s become a cultural shorthand, a cliché, a joke. But it reflects something real about addiction […]
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West Virginia has had the highest drug overdose death rate in the country since at least 2014, according to CDC data. According to a 2026 analysis from KFF using CDC data, West Virginia had the highest opioid overdose death rate in the country in 2024, at 38.6 deaths per 100,000 people. The state also saw
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People living in rural America face a very different experience with addiction treatment compared with those in cities. The gap isn’t just a matter of inconvenience. It’s a structural problem that shapes who gets help, how quickly they get it, what kind of care they can access and whether they survive long enough to use
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Maine isn’t the first state most people would expect to rank among the worst in the country for drug overdose deaths. It’s not associated with the industrial collapse of Appalachia, the border-state fentanyl corridors of the Southwest or the urban drug markets of major East Coast cities. It’s a largely rural New England state with
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If you’ve found small silver cartridges in your teenager’s room, seen your kids watching videos of people inhaling from balloons or heard them talking about “whippets,” you’re probably wondering whether it’s something to worry about. Here’s the truth: nitrous oxide might look harmless, but it isn’t. Deaths linked to nitrous oxide have risen sharply, increasing
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One of the defining features of the current overdose crisis is that people frequently don’t know what they’re actually taking. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl — the synthetic opioid responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the United States — is rarely sold in pure form. It’s mixed with other substances at every stage of the
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By the early 2020s, public health researchers had something genuinely worth celebrating. Teen cigarette smoking, a problem that had defined American public health since the 1950s, had been driven to historic lows. In 1997, 36% of high school students reported current cigarette use. By 2021, that figure had fallen to under 4%, a dramatic drop
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Searching for a detox hotline usually means one thing: someone is ready to make a move or at least open to talking to someone who can help them figure out next steps. This page is built for that moment. Below is a curated directory of free, confidential resources, beginning with our hotline and followed by
GLP-1 receptor agonists — the drug class that includes semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) — have become among the most discussed medications in the country. Their dramatic effects on appetite, weight and blood sugar have made them the subject of enormous cultural attention, and that attention has generated a predictable set of questions
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Quick Answer: Huffing is a form of inhalant abuse that involves breathing in chemical vapors to experience a brief high. While some people believe inhalants are less dangerous than other drugs, huffing can cause sudden death, brain damage, heart failure and long-term addiction, even after a single use. What Is Huffing? Huffing is a type
