Parents are inundated with information at the start of the school year about how to help their kids succeed. Much of it centers on building the perfect college application, how to get your kids to be perfect students, or alarmist messages about the dangers of much-loved food items and common, everyday products — warnings which are out of proportion with reality. But here’s an issue on which parents should get the facts: opioid addiction.

This might not seem like a real concern for parents who feel like their kids are unlikely to have access to a black market of illegal drugs, but opioid abuse can grow out of a legitimate prescription for a sports injury. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016, approximately 3.6 percent of kids aged 12 to 17 reported misusing opioid medication and that older adolescents and young adults aged 18-25 misuse at a much higher percentage than younger adolescents.