Drinking, smoking cannabis before 15 leads to poorer health in 30s, research shows

Categories

Addiction Treatment
Alcohol
Drugs
Gambling
In the papers
On TV

News Archive

Home » News » Alcohol » Drinking, smoking cannabis before 15 leads to poorer health in 30s, research shows

by Change | 20 Oct 2008

Bookmark

E-mail

Children who start substance abuse before 15 could end up with health problems in later life, research reveals.

Children who start drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis before the age of 15 face health problems later in life, according to a new study.

They face a higher risk of earlier pregnancy, school failure, substance dependence, sexually transmitted disease and criminal convictions following early substance abuse, the research published in Psychological Science notes.

Avshalaom Capsi and wife and colleague Terri Moffitt wrote the report, which analysed data from 1,000 New Zealand residents from birth to the age of 32.

They say the answer to the question of whether it's bad kids who do drugs, or doing drugs that makes kids bad, is 'both'.

Mr Capsi said: "The good kids who do drugs end up looking like the bad kids who didn't do drugs."

Adolescents who regularly used drugs and alcohol all had poorer health as adults, he commented.

"This is consistent with a growing body of evidence that early adolescence may be a sensitive time for exposure to alcohol and other drugs."

Last week it was reported that some 1,800 youngsters were treated in hospitals across London for ingesting alcohol in the past two years.

Dr Rajiv Jalan, a liver expert from University College London, told the Daily Mail that even small amounts of alcohol are associated with organ damage.

Bookmark this: