The Colorado nonprofit works with children to combat the opioid crisis and drug use

DENVER — We talk a lot about the negative aspects of social media, but now there's a nonprofit organization that's turning it into a positive way to reach kids to address the opioid crisis and drug use.

The group is called Rise Above Colorado. Their mission is to highlight the good and positive when reaching out to middle and high school students. They organize community events and use social media messaging to empower children to make healthy choices and fight back against misconceptions that could lead to dangerous outcomes.

“Despite what you may have heard, the vast majority of young people do not use drugs or alcohol,” said Kent MacLennan, executive director. “So we share some of these positive influences from peers who are actually in the majority when they choose not to use them and choose other healthy activities.”

MacLennan said they just completed a survey of about 900 children. Rise Above Colorado's survey found substance use will remain flat between 2022 and 2024.

However, larger surveys such as Healthy Kids Colorado show that substance use is still declining.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a press release on the survey results, writing: “The 2021 results showed a sharp decline in substance use among youth. This trend continued through 2023, with current use of most substances declining. Marijuana and cigarette use among youth remained stable at 13% and 3%, respectively, between 2021 and 2023.”

Key findings from the 2023 statewide high school results include:

• Among young people who currently drink alcohol, the proportion has fallen by 3 percentage points
• The number of young people who currently smoke has fallen by 7 percentage points
• Adolescents currently taking prescription painkillers without a prescription or other than prescribed decreased by 2 percentage points

What MacLennan noticed, however, was that some kids think substance use is less risky, but that's not the case, especially because of fentanyl.
“There are some warning signs in a lot of the data that we're seeing that give us cause for concern, and one of them is that risk perception is declining,” he said.

He is also concerned that some children shared that they did not have such a strong bond or sense of belonging to the community. MacLennan says this problem has been on the decline since the pandemic.

That's why Rise Above Colorado has programs like the statewide Teen Action Council that kids can participate in. They are also working on a national sticker contest highlighting the good work of young people in the community.

If you're interested in checking them out, you can go to RiseAboveCO.org.

The Colorado nonprofit works with children to combat the opioid crisis and drug use