Decline In Drug Abuse Hopeful, But More Research, Education Needed

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry applauds the 23.2 percent decline in drug use by young people reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), but calls for more research and education on the impact of youth drug abuse. The Monitoring the Future Study survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders shows an illicit drug use decline by 23.2 percent over a five-year period. It also showed that youth prescription drug, and over-the-counter medicine abuse remains high. "This illustrates that education is driving prevention," says Thomas F. Anders, M.D., President of AACAP. "Continued collaboration among parents, teachers, physicians, and mental health professionals is essential to show youth the long-term consequences of using drugs." The AACAP emphasizes the need for the identification and treatment of mental illnesses that often are present in youth who use drugs and/or alcohol.

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Youths can take different routes to drug addiction

Drug policies in the United States have long been influenced by the idea of a "gateway progression" in drug use, where the use of one substance eventually leads to "harder" drugs. Marijuana is often called a "gateway drug" because many young people who use it later move on to substances such as heroin and cocaine, and the gateway progression has been considered a strong predictor for drug dependency. A new study from the University of Pittsburgh, however, suggests that teens who follow a reverse sequence -- using harder drugs without having first tried "softer" ones, such as cigarettes and alcohol -- are just as likely to develop a drug dependency. In a study of 214 boys, researchers monitored participants' use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana over a 10-year period, until they reached the age of 22.

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Report ties teen smoking to drug abuse

Young people who smoke cigarettes are much more likely to use drugs and abuse alcohol than non-smoking youth, a new study says. A study of 15- to 19-year-olds by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found a "very strong" association between tobacco use and hazardous drinking, use of marijuana, and other drugs. "What surprised me was the strength of the association," said Chris Davis, one of the researchers for the study. The study found 91% of smoking youth used marijuana some time in the year before the study, compared to 29% of non-smoking youth. Young people who smoke were more likely to binge drink and more than twice as likely to be hazardous drinkers than non-smokers. .

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Doherty treated for drug addiction

BRITISH rock star Pete Doherty, the on-off boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss, is reportedly being treated for drug addiction at a clinic in Portugal. The 27-year-old Babyshambles frontman will have the drug naltrexone, which reduces the craving for heroin, implanted in his abdomen at the clinic at Oeiras, an oceanside suburb of Lisbon, Portuguese newspaper 24Horas reports, citing clinic sources. Doherty arrived in Portugal on Monday and is being accompanied by a British doctor, the paper said. The troubled singer has repeatedly sought treatment for drug addiction before in Portugal as well as at clinics in England, France and Thailand. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing crack cocaine earlier this month after he was spotted driving his Jaguar erratically near his home in East London.

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