Teens' drug problems
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Teens are the most likely people to start using drugs, and these drugs can create what psychiatrists consider symptoms. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, examined national data on drug use and symptoms in 12- to 17-year-olds. They found a higher likelihood of substance abuse problems among Native Americans, followed by teens of multiple races and ethnicities, whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
However, researcher Dan Blazer says the teen years are a good time for action:
"Probably during adolescence, we have our very best opportunity to prevent, intervene, and hopefully turn around adolescents who may be moving toward a lifelong pattern of substance use and disorder.'' (12 seconds)
The study in Archives of General Psychiatry was supported by the National Institutes of Health.