Enduring Effects of Adolescent Drug Exposure

摘要

Adolescence is a risky time. Teenagers take risks and seek novelty by nature, and those actions affect their health. They are more likely to die from accidents, and experimentation with psychoactive drugs is normative. A persuasive body of literature shows that substance-using adolescents are far more likely to become drug-dependent adults than those who delay experimentation until young adulthood. Moreover, there is a direct correlation between the age of initiation for alcohol or tobacco use and adult dependence on these and other drugs (1,2). Two interpretations have been proposed to explain this correlation: 1) adolescents who become drug involved are vulnerable because of the combination of inherited impulsive, risk-taking behavior, family history, and challenging social environment, which includes access to drugs, and 2) exposure of the developing brain to addictive drugs during the critical final phase of brain development causes permanent changes in the brain that render the individual more vulnerable to addiction. Although numerous studies in humans support the former possibility, an emerging body of animal studies suggests that drug action on the brain itself has persevering effects that contribute to the progression of addiction into adulthood. The article by Cass et al. (3) in the present issue addresses this possibility.