The headline on the federal news release was reassuring: cigarette smoking at historically low levels, alcohol use continuing a long decline, substance use among American adults otherwise steady.
Further down was a number that went the other way. Self-reported heroin use among adults aged 19 to 30 rose from 0.2 percent in 2024 to 0.6 percent in 2025, which investigators described as the first significant uptick and the highest level in about a decade.
