Drug Addiction Most Likely Starts During Teen Years – Here’s Why

Posted on February 23, 2011

Two new studies involving laboratory animals indicate that adolescence is a crucial time to develop drug addictions, because adults react differently to drugs than youngsters.

The first study was from Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. Dr. Justin Rhodes and his colleagues found that adolescent mice were less sensitive to the effects of cocaine and methamphetamine than adults. The adults showed more increases in locomotion, but the drugs had little to no effect on the "teenagers." Dr. Rhodes was unsure why this occurred.

Family Hardships Can Lead to Cannabis Use Disorders

Posted on December 9, 2009

One in five Australian young people experience a cannabis use disorder, according to a University of Queensland (UQ) and Mater Hospital study published today in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. The findings also reveal the characteristics of those who are more likely to experience a cannabis use disorder.

Alcohol Industry Targets Youth with Magazine Ads

Posted on December 2, 2009

A new study found that alcoholic beverages popular among youths are more likely to be advertised in magazines with high youth readership than alcoholic drinks consumed mainly by adults, resulting in disproportionately high youth exposure to such targeted alcohol ads.

Studies Link Parental Monitoring with Decreased Teen Marijuana Use

Posted on November 17, 2009

With 42 percent of high-school seniors admitting to having experimented with marijuana, it has become the most widely used illicit drug by adolescents. Repeated marijuana use may result in a number of serious consequences, including depression, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease, and certain forms of cancer. As such, it is critical to prevent marijuana use by adolescents, and numerous behavioral and medical scientists have been trying to establish the best means of prevention.