© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group & Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
LEADING ARTICLE
Substance abuse
Substance abuse by children and young people
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr P McArdle
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer, Fleming Nuffield Unit, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health Trust, Burdon Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3AE, UK; mcardlep@aol.com
A contemporary disease
Keywords: adolescents; mental health; substance abuse
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Use of illicit substances by significant numbers of young people has been of concern for at least a generation in Western Europe and North America.1 This is reflected in official statistics, police sources and surveys, and particularly school based anonymous self-reports that have shown a substantial increase in consumption over that time with a further surge during the 1990s.1 In addition, the rates of substance use (alcohol and drugs) in the UK currently outstrip those reported elsewhere in Europe.2 Furthermore, there is now evidence of illicit substance use by significant numbers of pre-adolescent UK children;3 up to 5% of preteens currently report use of illicit substances and an appreciable number hard drugs such as heroin; apparently an entirely new development.
Despite this exposure to toxic substances, children and young people are not referred in large numbers to health services as a consequence primarily of substance related disorders. In
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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McArdle, P A
(2006). Cannabis use by children and young people.. Arch. Dis. Child.
91: 692-695
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Ogilvie, D., Gruer, L., Haw, S.
(2005). Young people's access to tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. BMJ
331: 393-396
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Drugs misuse (including addiction)
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Child and adolescent psychiatry (paedatrics)
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