New Standards for Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Care Announced

• The Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth volume of The ASAM Criteria® establishes a dedicated framework for organizing the adolescent addiction treatment system and determining appropriate levels of care
• Volume will be available digitally on March 31, 2026 and in print June 2026. 

Rockville, Md. and Center City, Minn. (March 24, 2026) – The Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth volume of The ASAM Criteria, the most widely used and comprehensive set of standards for addiction treatment programs, establishes new dedicated treatment standards and admission criteria for youth with substance use disorder (SUD). The new standards will be presented today at the Joint Meeting on Youth Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery, and the complete volume, published by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, will be available digitally on March 31, 2026, and in print June 2026. Learn more and purchase. 

First released in 1991 by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), The ASAM Criteria promotes individualized and holistic treatment planning and guides clinicians in making objective decisions about patient admission, continuing care, and movement along the continuum of care. The ASAM Criteria's standards provide a framework for organizing the addiction treatment system, including the types and intensities of treatment that should be available.

Standards for adolescent care were previously interwoven with those for adults in the Third Edition of The ASAM Criteria, published in 2013. As research on the treatment of addiction among youth has evolved, ASAM developed this dedicated, second volume for the Fourth Edition to facilitate individualized care for adolescents (youth under 18 years of age) and transition-aged youth (individuals between the ages of 16-25), with the goal of improving patient outcomes. 

"Adolescents and transition-aged youth have unique developmental needs that the addiction treatment system should be organized to meet," said Corey Waller, MD, MS, DFASAM, editor-in-chief of the Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth volume. "Ongoing brain development during these formative years puts youth at a greater risk of developing the disease of addiction, which can lead to poor health outcomes and delayed life skill development. The new ASAM Criteria standards outline the full range of treatment services that should be available to all adolescent patients in order to effectively prevent and treat substance use disorder and set them up for long-term health and success into adulthood. While there will be challenges to overcome to make this vision a reality, we must commit to building systems and payment models capable of delivering effective interventions and treatments for all young people who need them."

Research demonstrates that SUD is a pediatric-onset illness. Eighty percent of adults with SUD initiated substance use before age 18. Those who use substances before age 15 are 6.5 times more likely to develop SUD than those who delay use until age 21 or older. 

Given the vulnerability of the adolescent brain, the updated ASAM Criteria promote early intervention to prevent adolescent substance use from transitioning to SUD. These standards recommend specialty treatment for young people who are using substances and at high risk of rapid escalation to SUD. They also promote a family systems orientation, fully integrated mental health treatment, and coordination across systems of care, such as schools and child welfare agencies, to help address the myriad factors that contribute to SUD and recovery. 

"The ASAM Criteria's new adolescent treatment standards represent a tremendous opportunity to further elevate and individualize SUD care for our nation's children and young adults," said Joseph Lee, MD, president and CEO of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, publisher of the Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth volume. "To help clinicians adopt The ASAM Criteria and put these standards into practice, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation was intentional about creating a user-friendly, digital interface that can serve all members of the SUD care team, and by extension, families and children impacted by this disease."

The volume includes a new continuum of care for adolescents. The ASAM Criteria describes treatment as a continuum marked by four broad levels of care that represent different degrees of treatment intensity. The adolescent continuum of care promotes:

• A chronic care model of treatment. The new Level 1.0Y provides ongoing monitoring for adolescents in stable remission, including recovery management checkups and ongoing medication management services for those prescribed addiction medications. 
• Co-occurring capable care. All levels of care are expected to provide co-occurring capable care, which includes fully integrated mental health treatment. This is due to the high prevalence of co-occurring mental health conditions among adolescents and transition-aged youth. A major focus of the updated continuum of care is integration with the adolescent mental health treatment system.
• Integration of medical care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that adolescents have a growing need for medical management with the increased prevalence of fentanyl in the drug supply. The adolescent continuum of care integrates withdrawal management services in the x.7Y programs with the expectation that these levels also provide integrated biomedical and psychosocial services. 
• Holistic care. The Fourth Edition of The ASAM Criteria advocates for care that addresses the broad biological, psychological, developmental, social, and cultural needs of the patient and family unit. All adolescent SUD treatment programs are expected to provide family services, recovery support services, and risk reduction services. The volume emphasizes the importance of engaging with the patient and family to understand their treatment goals and preferences and being responsive to them.

The Adolescents and Transition-Aged Youth volume is the second of four volumes of The ASAM Criteria, Fourth Edition. Subsequent volumes will focus on justice-involved patients and the treatment of behavioral addictions (i.e., gambling, internet, and gaming addiction). Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation will host a webinar on April 16 to discuss the new adolescent standards and how treatment programs can use them to improve the delivery of care.

Additional implementation materials will be released to help treatment programs deploy these new standards and successfully match patients to the appropriate level of care. More information on the new levels of care and treatment considerations can be found on ASAM's website. 

About the American Society of Addiction Medicine

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), founded in 1954, is a professional medical society representing over 8,000 physicians, clinicians, and associated professionals in the field of addiction medicine. ASAM is dedicated to increasing access and improving the quality of addiction treatment, educating physicians and the public, supporting research and prevention, and promoting the appropriate role of physicians in the care of patients with addiction. For more information, visit www.ASAM.org.