A new survey by the Maryland Department of Health shows a decrease in substance abuse issues among the state’s youth between 2021 and 2022 while. At the same time, there was also an increase in mental health challenges due to the pandemic. The Maryland Youth Risk Behavior Survey and Youth Tobacco Survey, conducted in the fall of 2021, involved close to 60,000 students in 366 public middle and high schools. It also looked at COVID-19 screen time, mental health status and other “adverse childhood” experiences.
