Latest Updates

The Drug Enforcement Administration is advising the public of an alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available across the United States.  In August 2022, DEA and our law enforcement partners seized brightly-colored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 18 states.  Dubbed “rainbow fentanyl” in the media, this trend appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.

Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988, according to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study. Rates of past-month nicotine vaping, which have been gradually increasing in young adults for the past four years, also continued their general upward trend in 2021, despite leveling off in 2020. Past-month marijuana vaping, which had significantly decreased in 2020, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning college students about new, deadly drugs flooding the black market. 

Moody's office says fentanyl is now the number one killer of adults between the ages of 18 and 45.

Procuring drugs outside conventional means could lead to disaster. In today’s Academic Minute, the University of Connecticut’s C. Michael White explores why. White is distinguished professor and chair at UConn’s School of Pharmacy.

The effect of COVID-19 on college student mental health is widely reported and can, in part, be evidenced by the increasing demand for counseling services.  The degree to which the pandemic affected substance use patterns, including binge drinking and cannabis use, appears to be less obvious and, perhaps, more complicated.  We asked two national experts what the early data show on substance use patterns over the last two years and how we might interpret what we are seeing.  Their answers include the identification of looming concerns and emerging best practices.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is transitioning its number to 988.

Rich Lucey is a Senior Prevention Program Manager in DEA’s Community Outreach and Prevention Support Section. In this month’s View from the Field, Rich highlights a milestone achievement for www.campusdrugprevention.gov and highlights DEA’s various resources for professionals working to prevent drug use and misuse among college students.

A group of students at West Virginia University has created a task force that aims to educate their fellow students about the dangers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Dr. David Anderson is Professor Emeritus of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. In this month’s article, Dr. Anderson focuses on the importance of data and its implications for preventing alcohol and drug misuse among college students.

Students at four-year colleges and universities drink nearly twice as much alcohol as their peers in two-year colleges, according to a survey of college students in the Seattle area.