October 2021

Key Findings from Research on Dangers of Counterfeit
Drugs and Fentanyl among Teens and Young Adults
Introduction
Snap is committed to doing our part to fight the growing fentanyl epidemic on our platform andhelping raise awareness with young people. This research was commissioned from Morning
Consult to help inform Snap's in-app educational awareness resources, building on an initial
set of public service announcements we launched earlier this summer with Song for Charlie, anational nonprofit focused on raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl. In addition tohelping guide our own work, Snap is releasing the findings of this research to help advance thepublic's knowledge of and dialogue surrounding counterfeit pills and fentanyl, especially as it
relates to young people.
Today, Snap is building on the company’s efforts by launching new in-app resources
developed from the findings of this research. In the coming months, Snap will continue
expanding on this campaign with additional educational resources and partners. These efforts
are supported by operational improvements Snap has been making to better prevent, detect,and combat the drug-related activity on Snapchat.
Key Research Findings
1. Young Americans face significant mental health challenges connected to high levels ofstress.
2. Mental health challenges are complicated by stigma surrounding mental health andlack of comfort seeking help from parents, school resources, or medical professionals.
3. Young people are seeking coping strategies, and, unfortunately, many are turning to or
considering prescription drugs without a prescription.
4. Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now
endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger anddeadliness of fentanyl.
Methodology
This research was commissioned by Snap and executed by Morning Consult. Interviews wereconducted online between July 15-July 29, 2021, among a nationwide sample of 1,449
Americans aged 13-24. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points. Quotas and weights were used to ensure the national demographic
representation among this age cohort. In this report, references to Gen Z include all
respondents ages 13-24, we defined the Teen audience as ages 13-17 and Young Adults asages 18-24. Parental consent was required for minors between the ages of 13-17 before
participation in the survey.

1Key Data Points
1. Young Americans face significant mental health challenges connected to high levelsof stress.
● Nearly half of Gen Z (46%) rate their average stress level as 7 out of 10 or above.
● Stress levels increase with age within this cohort. 50% of Young Adults rate their stresslevel as 7 out of 10 or above, while a slightly smaller share of Teens (40%) rate theiraverage stress at similarly high levels.
● Nearly 9 in 10 (86%) Americans ages 13-24 agree that people their age feeloverwhelmed. More than half (57%) of both Young Adults and Teens strongly agreewith this idea.

46%of Gen Z rate their average stresslevel as 7 out of 10 or above

2. Mental health challenges are complicated by stigma surrounding mental health andlack of comfort seeking help from parents, school resources, or medical
professionals.
● 57% of Teens disagree when asked if people their age are comfortable talking about
their mental health with others, compared to just 34% that agree.
● More than two-thirds of Gen Zers agree that there is a stigma surrounding mental healthissues among people their age (71%).
● 74% of Gen Z say they are likely to talk to a close friend, while 57% say they are likely totalk to a trusted adult, and 53% are likely to seek help from a professional.
● Just 49% say they are likely to talk to their parents, while only 28% say they are likely toseek help from school-based resources.
Likely Actions in Response to Mental Health Challenges
Showing % Likely among Gen Z
Talk to your close friends

74%

Talk to a trusted adult57%

Seek help from a mental health professional

53%

Talk to your parents

49%

Seek help from school-based resources

28%

2

3. Young people are seeking coping strategies, and, unfortunately, many are turning toor considering prescription drugs without a prescription.
● 15% of Gen Zers have abused prescription medicines, 1-in-5 have thought about doing
so, and 40% know a peer who has done so.
● Two-thirds (66%) of Gen Z, including 63% of Teens and 69% of Young Adults, haveheard of people abusing prescription drugs.
● Coping with stress is the top reason cited for using prescription drugs without aprescription. 84% of Gen Zers say that “coping with stress and anxiety” is a reasonpeople may abuse prescription drugs.

84%

of Gen Z say coping with stress and anxiety
is a common reason for Rx abuse

4. Young people broadly lack information about the extent to which fentanyl is now
endemic in the illicit prescription drug supply, along with the extraordinary danger
and deadliness of fentanyl.
● While most Gen Zers (60%) have heard of drug deaths involving fentanyl, just about 2in-5 have heard of fentanyl being used to create counterfeit pills.
● Only 27% of Teens are aware of fentanyl being illicitly used in counterfeit pills, while halfof Young Adults (50%) are aware of this issue.
● When asked to rate how dangerous various drugs are, Young Americans are most likely
to say heroin (61%) and cocaine (50%) are extremely dangerous, while the share who
say the same about fentanyl (37%) trails considerably.
● Nearly 1-in-4 (23%) Young Americans don’t know enough to rate fentanyl’s danger atall, the highest level of uncertainty among drugs evaluated. This lack of information on
fentanyl is even more common among Teens (35%).
Share of Gen Z that considers each drug to be“extremely dangerous”

61%

Heroin50%

Cocaine37%

Fentanyl3