Colorado’s Young Adults in Peril Due to High Drug Use

Colorado’s Gen Z faces unprecedented drug abuse challenges influenced by marijuana legalization and complicated by an influx of fentanyl.

An analysis of Colorado’s drug abuse statistics reveals a serious threat faced by Coloradans between the ages of 18 and 25. This group is popularly referred to as “Gen Z”—those born between 1997 and 2012. While these are prime drug abuse years in any population, these young adults in Colorado are experiencing exceptionally high levels of drug use.

Rate of Drug Use Among Young Adults in Colorado

Here are some statistics that reveal the extent of the threat:

• Among all Coloradans ages 12 and older, the rate of any drug abuse is 20.83%, one of the highest rates in the nation.¹

• Among young adults (18 to 25) in Colorado, the rate is 35.1%. Therefore, more than one in three Coloradans in this age group has used a federally illicit drug in the last 30 days.

• Among this age group, almost half (47.42%) used marijuana in the last year.

Of course, the most frequently used drug in this and every state is marijuana, which is legal for both medical and recreational use in Colorado. However, it remains an illegal drug according to federal law.

• Last year, cocaine use in this age group was 75% higher than the national average.

• More than one in ten young adults used a hallucinogen in the last year. This is 44% higher than the national average.

• According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 37.05% of Colorado’s young adults are classified as needing substance abuse treatment. This classification would indicate that these individuals are damaging their lives, families, jobs, education, relationships, or health because of their drinking or drug use, but they continue their consumption of addictive substances.

It may be particularly important to tap into the actions and attitudes of Colorado’s Gen Z for this reason: Cannabis consumption has been legal for their entire adult lives. The impacts of this drug on this population could provide insights into the future impacts of more widespread legalization or decriminalization.

Gen Z Drivers and Marijuana Abuse

In 2023, the Colorado Department of Transportation surveyed drivers to determine their attitudes about impaired driving and drug use. From the results of this survey:²

• Drivers between 18 and 24 years of age consume cannabis more than twice as often as the average driver.

• They were more than twice as likely to report driving high in the last 30 days.

• One in five 18–24-year-old drivers reported that they had driven within two hours of using cannabis at least once within the last month. Among older Colorado drivers, the rate was only 7%.

• More than one-third (37%) of young adults surveyed felt that they could safely drive under the influence of cannabis. Among those ages 25 to 34, only 17% felt the same.

Why That Last Statistic Matters

Nearly four in ten young adults felt that they could smoke pot or consume edibles and drive. Why is that actually a bad idea?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has carefully documented the effects of sixteen types of drugs on driving performance. Their report on marijuana makes it clear that a driver loses some of their ability to drive safely when they are influenced by cannabis.³ From their report:

Marijuana has been shown to impair performance on driving simulator tasks and on open and closed driving courses for up to approximately 3 hours.

Specific impairments noted in their report:

• Decreased car handling performance
• Increased reaction times
• Impaired time and distance estimation
• Inability to maintain headway, lateral travel
• Subjective sleepiness
• Motor incoordination
• Impaired sustained vigilance

The report also comments:

Some drivers may actually be able to improve performance for brief periods by overcompensating for self-perceived impairment. The greater the demands placed on the driver, however, the more critical the likely impairment. Marijuana may particularly impair monotonous and prolonged driving. Decision times to evaluate situations and determine appropriate responses increase.

One more important fact: Mixing alcohol and marijuana may dramatically produce effects greater than either drug on its own.

How Young Adults Were Influenced by Legal Recreational Marijuana

The sale of recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado on January 1, 2014. This change had a dramatic effect on the drug use of young adults. In Colorado, the percentage of young adults using marijuana for the first time rose from about 10% in 2013 to 12% in 2014 and then to nearly 16% in 2015. Nationally, there was no such increase in this age group. It is apparent that a greater and easier availability of this drug made its use more acceptable to many young adult Coloradans.⁴

Fatal and Nonfatal Drug Overdoses

The group that experiences the most fatal drug overdoses is those between the ages of 35 to 44, followed by those between the ages of 25 to 34. However, Gen Z Coloradans have the most visits by far to an emergency room for nonfatal overdoses. Between 2016 and 2023, there were 24,337 of these visits in this age group.[5] Among all the states, Colorado is ninth in nonfatal overdoses.⁵

Opioids were present in nearly all fatal overdoses in this age group. Marijuana was present in 42% of the cases, followed by amphetamines.⁶

An Influx of Deadly Fentanyl Complicates the Issue

When fentanyl is trafficked into Colorado, it intensifies the dangers surrounding young adults. In the Rocky Mountain area alone, law enforcement seized more than 3.6 million counterfeit pills. These are pills manufactured by drug traffickers that look like legitimate pharmaceutical products but that actually contain potent and illicit fentanyl.⁷ In 2021, two young adults in El Paso County suffered the ultimate damage from fentanyl when both died the same night after consuming counterfeit pills.⁸

Caring for Our Young Adults Means Caring for Our Future

When we care for our youth and young adults, we protect the future of our nation and our culture. These young people should be completing their educations and, in their later years, starting families. Monitoring the impact of drugs on our younger citizens is an important part of creating safety for the generations that follow. Those youth and young adults who are impacted too heavily by the proliferation of drug use and overdoses deserve our concern and support.

Sources:

Karen

After a few years working at the Narconon center in Oklahoma, Karen has been researching drug trends around the world and writing reports and articles on addiction and recovery for nine years.
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