New Trends of Substance Use in Teenagers

Background: Adolescence is a period of important physical, psychological and emotional development. The need to become independent and to experience new sensations is associated with risk behaviors, such as use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

Objective and Methods: To evaluate new trends of substance use in teenagers, by searching medical databases and journals for published articles in the last 5 years, using the keywords “substance”, “use”, “adolescents”

Results: The most common substances used by adolescents are alcohol and tobacco, as they are more readily available. Although a decline of cigarette smoking in adolescents has been observed in the last decades, e-cigarettes are recently gaining popularity and their use has been associated with initiation and then transition to more frequent cigarette smoking. Despite the similar decrease in consumption among teens, alcohol remains the main cause of intoxications admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department in several European countries (including Portugal) and the differences between genders’ consumption habits tend to disappear. Marijuana is increasingly displacing alcohol and cigarettes as the first substance used, and is causally associated with subsequent polysubstance use. Since the mid 2000s New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) have been available on the market, specifically designed to imitate the effects of established illicit drugs, and untruly known as legal. Their use among adolescents is still low, but increasing, as they reported being more likely to try drugs if they are legal.

Conclusion: Adolescent substance use has been declining worldwide. This decreasing trend is probably a result of intensively provided preventive and educational measures, increasing the public awareness of the severity of underage substance use. Of major concern, the more prominent role of marijuana in the early stages of drug use and the rise of NPS, given the considerable potential for harm, including hospitalizations, overdose and fatalities.