NCJ Number
180890
Journal
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: July 1999 Pages: 195-201
Date Published
July 1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
These comments on papers in a previous issue of this journal notes that they reflected the general desire of policymakers and prevention practitioners to identify children at high risk for drug abuse to encourage interventions to prevent drug abuse and related behaviors and health conditions among youth in the United Kingdom.
Abstract
The six papers focused on children at risk, the prevalence of juvenile drug use among those provided social and welfare services, and preliminary principles for prevention. One author noted that certain youths' escalation to higher levels of drug abuse seems to involve predominantly biological and psychiatric processes and that drug abuse results from a web of causation rather than a single path. Other papers reported that youth at high risk for drug abuse appear in a number of settings and with other social, health, and psychological problems. However, these youth lack an overall assessment or any service coordination. The youths usually do not regard drug abuse as a problem. Barriers to interventions relate to problems of engagement and retention of the study populations and to the content of the intervention and support a case management approach with comprehensive services and common objectives. Training of juvenile justice workers is also important. Further papers focus on the need for comprehensive services for youths not in school, the challenges in reaching homeless adolescents, the need to address not only drug abuse but also other problems, and the need for epidemiologic information that is specific to drug abuse. What is happening in the United Kingdom reflects what is happening in the United States and many other countries and thus requires an international response. 42 references