Ep 233: The Opioid Crisis: What Parents Need to Know

<p>If you've enjoyed Talking to Teens, we'd love if you could leave us a five-star rating, and if you have time, a review! </p><br><p>Many of us picture drug addiction as a vague threat, something that might be a possibility for an unhoused person or party animal but never for our own kids. When we hear concerns about the opioid crisis, we might wave it off as a problem that most likely could never affect us. We typically think that even if kids party a little,–say, experiment with marijuana or alcohol-that they’ll probably come out on the other end just fine.</p><p><br></p><p>But what we don’t realize is just how susceptible our kids are to opioid use. Nowadays, traces of opioids are found in marijuana, cocaine, or even candy. They’re in millions of medicine cabinets, available on the streets in alarming quantities, and have been prescribed to nearly a third of adults in the United States. If we want our kids to stay safe from the opioid crisis, it’s time to educate ourselves–and our kids.</p><p><br></p><p>To help us wrap our heads around the severity of this crisis, we’re talking to Holly Geyer, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/3kgQRWT"><em>Ending the Crisis: Mayo Clinic’s Guide to Opioid Addiction and Safe Opioid Use</em></a>. Holly is an addiction medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, where she leads the Arizona Opioid Stewardship Program. She’s served on several Arizona department of health subcommittees, works with a number of organizations to raise opioid awareness, and lectures nationally on opioid addiction and safe opioid prescribing.</p><p><br></p><p>In our interview, we’re explaining what opioids are and how they affect the human body. We also discuss how we can look for signs of opioid abuse in our kids, and what we can say to kids who might be at risk of an opioid addiction.</p><p><br></p><p><br><strong>What Parents Need to Know About Opioids<br></strong><br></p><p>As an opioid expert, Holly is often asked: what’s the difference between opioids and opiates? In the ep