The Kids Are Still On Drugs
The numbers of kids admitting to drug use in surveys these days rises and falls in cycles but in New England the number comes about to about 15 percent. That is to say, about 15 percent of teenagers who came in for routine outpatient care had positive results on a substance abuse screening test.
According to the article that the authors of the study published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (JAMA/Archives), November issue, “Substance use is associated with the leading causes of death among U.S. teenagers: unintentional injuries, homicides and suicides.”
Early substance use also points to future problems with addiction. In the present, it is also linked to conduct and bad behavior that leads to juvenile detention, unprotected sex that results in the contraction of communicable diseases and STDs and unplanned pregnancy and chronic depression.
The authors also said: “Given the pressures of time on primary care providers, more research is needed on efficient and effective office-based systems for substance abuse screening and therapeutic interventions. Early identification and intervention of adolescent substance use presents the greatest opportunity for reducing the burden of addictive disorders later in life.”
For kids who are using opiate street drugs or prescription painkillers on a regular basis and are over the age of 15, Suboxone treatment is an FDA approved course of drug addiction treatment. Rather than miss anymore school or suffer the stigma of an inpatient drug rehab, kids can treat their addiction and move forward without putting themselves and further behind. Meditox doctors are certified to treat opiate drug addiction in both adults and adolescents that are of legal age to take buprenorphine (Suboxone).
For more information on this study and others, check out Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
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