Substance misuse in adolescents

Harith Swadi is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University (PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates; Fax: (9713) 672 995; e-mail: [email protected]) and a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist currently practising in the Middle East. Formerly, he was Senior Lecturer at the St Thomas’ Hospital Campus of the United Medical and Dental Schools. There is increasing evidence that substance misuse among British adolescents is escalating (Miller & Plant, 1996; Sutherland & Willner, 1998). Swadi (1992) found that, among adolescents aged 12– 17 years referred to mental health services, the prevalence of drug use was 13.1% (16.3% among boys and 9.3% among girls). Despite this relatively high prevalence, there are very few organised treatment services for adolescents in the UK. Instead, there is extensive emphasis on prevention even though there is no universal agreement on what prevention can achieve. This approach also overlooks the fact that a significant number of adolescents fail to respond to preventive measures in any form.