• Posted July 8, 2026

U.S. Teens Underestimate Risks Of Fentanyl Use, Survey Finds

U.S. teens are seriously underestimating how lethal the synthetic opioid fentanyl can be, a new study says.

More than half of American eighth-graders don’t think it’s dangerous to experiment with fentanyl, researchers reported July 7 in JAMA Network Open.

In reality, fentanyl is involved in at least 3 out of 4 teen overdose deaths, researchers said.

“The majority of eighth-grade students (52%) did not see great risk in trying fentanyl once or twice,” wrote the team led by Richard Meich, a research professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Older teens were more likely to see fentanyl as dangerous, but even in the 12th grade about 30% did not think it risky to try fentanyl once or twice, and 15% didn’t consider regular use risky.

“To the extent that increasing adolescents’ awareness of the dangers of fentanyl is an important tool to prevent overdoses, these results indicate there is room for improvement on this front,” the researchers wrote.

“Warnings to students that fentanyl may be added into counterfeit pills purported to help with studying or anxiety will likely have little protective effect among those who do not believe that using fentanyl can have serious health consequences on first use,” the team added.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because of this, even small amounts can trigger an overdose.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from the 2025 edition of a survey conducted annually by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse called Monitoring the Future.

The survey asked eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders about the risk of using fentanyl once or twice, occasionally or regularly.

Among eighth-graders, 48% attributed great risk to experimental use, 57% to occasional use and 66% to regular use.

These responses are “terrifying” from students who are at “the age where people start to experiment,” said Dr. Manassa Hany, who reviewed the findings. He is the division director of addiction psychiatry at Northwell Zucker Hillside and South Oaks hospitals in New York.

“Trying fentanyl even once or twice is a poison. Think of it as a rat poison that a kid is trying once or twice and thinks it is OK,” Hany said. “It makes me so afraid.”

Doctors don’t prescribe morphine until they have exhausted all kinds of painkillers, he added. 

"It’s a last resort," Hany said. “In a nutshell, fentanyl is an extremely powerful, potent drug that will produce as much as 100 times the effect of morphine.”

Older high schoolers appeared to have a better — but not perfect — handle on how potent fentanyl is:

• Among 10th-graders, 64% attributed great risk to experimental use, 72% to occasional use and 77% to regular use.

• Among 12th-graders, 70% saw experimental use, 79% occasional use and 85% regular use as risky.

“While levels of perceived risk increased steadily across the three grades, even in 12th grade 30.2% did not attribute great risk to using fentanyl once or twice and 15.2% did not attribute great risk in its regular use,” the research team wrote.

Hany said this lack of awareness of fentanyl’s dangers will lead kids to drop their guard when they hear about the drug. They are already inclined to shrug off taking a couple puffs of weed or a few sips of beer, he noted.

“It doesn't work like that with fentanyl. It's a poison. Think of it as cyanide when you are using it. You will die. There is a very limited chance that the teen will survive that,” Hany said.

He suggests using clear messages on social media to spread the word of fentanyl’s dangers.

“If you put that in a TikTok or a small video on Instagram, just to raise awareness, it’s a simple, direct, short, right-to-the-point video,” Hany said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on fentanyl.

SOURCES: JAMA Network Open, July 7, 2026; Dr. Manassa Hany, division director of addiction psychiatry, Northwell Zucker Hillside and South Oaks hospitals