Substance abuse in young people

Adolescent substance abuse, with its heterogeneity, its complexity and its association with behavioural. physical and mental health problems is of inc reasing interest to many; the politician, the economist, clinicians and res earchers, families and young people themselves. Data concerning the prevale nce and trends in use of a range of substances in different countries, cult ures and different groups are reviewed. The influence of associated mental and physical health problems, the multiple definitions applied to use and a buse and the confounding effect of different ideologies and cultural differ ences are considered. There is now much interest in the understanding of ri sk and protective influences, including multi focused prevention programmes among vulnerable young people. Some positive effects of universal preventi on programmes are reported, although too often they lack thoroughness in pr ogramme implementation, data collection and follow up. Indeed compared to t he adult addiction literature there is a death of research on adolescent tr eatment outcomes. Research needs to address treatment and cost effectivenes s in different settings with different groups. The evidence tends to suppor t multi faceted interventions for high risk youths. However, the use of evi dence based programmes with a scientific basis should be supported and impl emented.