The situation is not as unhopeful as we all might think in the sense that alcohol, cocaine and tobacco use amongst young people has consistently declined since the seventies. There's quite a lot that we have managed to do around protecting young people from other substances.
The one substance that is showing an opposite trend is opioids, so we really need to focus on this particular behaviour. Young people's opioid use is increasing despite declining rates of substance use in other forms and it's an extremely dangerous substance for young people to be using. We need to take this very seriously.
All the trends are suggesting that there will be many more deaths of young people in this country from opioids.