Alcohol and Drugs
The use of alcohol and drugs by teenagers is another area about which parents are very aware and concerned. There is some evidence that points to teenagers with TS/TS+ having more difficulty with drug and alcohol abuse than their peers do.
- Anecdotal evidence suggests that teenagers with TS/TS+ self-medicate with illegal drugs in an effort to alleviate their symptoms. There is a lot of information, especially on the Internet, about TS and using "pot" to help with symptoms. There is also hype about medical marijuana and its uses. Teenagers could be reading about these subjects, misinterpreting the evidence, and experimenting. There is also recent research about nicotine being used in pill form as a treatment for some disorders. Some teenagers are reading about nicotine use and interpreting the information as a reason to smoke.
- The results of a study of teenagers with ADHD published in the August 2003 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology showed that teenagers with childhood ADHD are more likely to develop alcohol and substance abuse problems than are teenagers without ADHD. The study revealed he following differences between the teenagers with ADHD and a control group without ADHD:
- Teens with ADHD reported more drunkenness. Almost twice as many teenagers with ADHD reported being drunk more than once in the preceding six months.
- Both groups gave similar responses when asked if they had ever tried alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana at least once.
- Tobacco and illegal drugs were tried at a younger age in the ADHD group.
- Teenagers in the ADHD group were three times more likely to have tried an illegal drug other than marijuana.
- Of the teenagers with ADHD, eleven percent reported using two or more different illegal drugs more than once, as compared with three percent of the control group.
- Some parents have voiced the concern that taking psychostimulant medications (I.e. Ritalin, Concerta) to treat ADHD will result in an increased likelihood of substance abuse. In fact, the reverse seems to be true. Adults with untreated ADHD have been shown to have a higher incidence of substance abuse than those who received successful treatment for ADHD.
- Some adolescents and teenagers are being pressured to give or sell their prescription medications to other teenagers. Some teenagers are also being taught to make their drugs more potent by combining them with cough syrup containing dextromethorphan (DM). The newer drugs, such as Concerta, have resolved this issue by using a time-release mechanism; however, the older versions of the medications are still being used.
