This new TIP derives from CSAT's intention to provide protocols that reflect the work now being done by providers of high-quality treatment. As with other TIPs, this document brings the best knowledge from the field to State and local treatment programs. Moreover, perceived risk of harm from substance use is falling while the availability of drugs is climbing. These trends indicate a major national problem, especially as the social and economic costs of adolescent substance use are becoming better understood. The onset of substance use is occurring at younger ages, resulting in more adolescents entering treatment for substance use disorders with greater developmental deficits and perhaps much greater neurological deficits than have been observed in the past.
Adolescent users differ from adults in many ways.
Their drug and alcohol use often stems from different causes, and they have even more trouble projecting the consequences of their use into the future. At a physical level, adolescents tend to have smaller body sizes and lower tolerances, putting them at greater risk for alcohol-related problems even at lower levels of consumption. The use of substances may also compromise an adolescent's mental and emotional development from youth to adulthood because substance use interferes with how people approach and experience interactions.