Significant and Telling Results in Study on Teenage D rug Abuse

Teenage drug abuse continues to be of concern in the United States, both socially and medically.

According to a report by the National Institutes of Health (published in the July 2012 edition of Pharmacogenomics- http://bionews-tx.com/national-institutes-health-need-know/) around 22.1 million people have been classified as demonstrating substance dependence or abuse, with over 1 million addicted to cocaine and opiate compounds and over 350,000 addicted to heroin. Even more alarming is that The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (https://nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm) reports that around 4,300 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 use drugs for the first time in the U.S. every day, the most common drug choices being cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. These astonishing figures require more strict and active monitoring methods to prevent drug abuse by adolescents.

Recently, a report published by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in the Annals of Internal Medicine(March 2014) suggested that interventions to reduce drug abuse among the youth led by doctors and primary-care physicians has been of little or no significance in solving this serious and potentially deadly epidemic. According to Virginia Moyer, USPSTF chairperson and MD, MPH at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the American Board of Pediatrics (AAP), and colleagues, out of the interventions aimed at reducing drug abuse among those addicted and those involved in unnecessary use of medicines, a total of only 5 or 6were found to be remotely significant (graded as Insufficient/I).

The ‘insufficient’ interventions reviewed by USPSTF included face-to-face counseling, videos, print materials, interactive computer sessions and in-house tutorials for mothers and their teen daughters. In the opinion of USPSTF member Susan Curry, PhD, of the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City, “...When we issue an ‘I’ statement, it means there’s insufficient evidence. It doesn’t mean we are recommending against doing something. This is the opportunity and the time where our expertise and our clinical judgment become very important. We know the populations of patients that we’re working with, we know the importance of engaging with our young patients, to talk with them about substance use, tobacco use, and alcohol use.”

More effective interventions require the assessment and analysis of different stages of development of addiction. These should include:

when was the drug use first initiated is there use of medication for purposes other than indicated using illicit drugs (cocaine, marijuana, and heroin) leading to addiction and

dependence on the drug for basic activities and stimulation, finally followed by relapse.

Each stage should be screened, and interventions tailored appropriately need to be created.

Also, children under the age of 12 who do not abuse drugs need to be given adequate attention to help them continue that status and allow them to set examples for their peers. Parental counseling is necessary, along with campaigns in schools and colleges, regarding the ill effects of drug use. Researchers indicate that concentration should not only be on what is occurring now, but more focus should be given to what could be. Performance of adequate background checks, analysis of the family background, and the socio-economic conditions of drug addiction victims can also aid in designing a proper course of action and help in the counseling of these victims.

Source:

http://bionews-tx.com/news/2014/03/12/bcm-researcher-contributes-to-revealing-study-on-teen-drug-use/