How low-barrier treatment, culture-rooted care help Karen teens push back against opioids
Advocates credit a combination of low-barrier treatment and culture-rooted care in addressing opioid addiction among Karen and Karenni youth. The Urban Village, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based nonprofit that supports young people in the Karen and Karenni refugee communities, has been meeting with teens for the first weekly meeting of the new school year. The program offers programming for teens, including tutoring, social-emotional skill-building and outdoor activities such as hiking, rock-climbing and snow-climming. However, some participants, like D, had returned to the program after a months-long ICE immigration enforcement operation in 2026. Alice Buckner, executive director of the Karen Organization of Minnesota, believes that addiction and drug use may have been fueled in part by the pressures teens face in their high schools. While adults have been worried about teen drug use for decades, the drugs used today are more deadly.
发表 : 23 小时前 经过 Andy Steiner 在 Health
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