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New data set stage for PCPs to question teens about substance use
Almost one-third of 12th graders reported using a vaping device, and daily marijuana use is more popular than daily cigarette smoking among adolescents, according to the Monitoring the Future annual survey of eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students.
“This data is particularly relevant for family doctors and adolescent medicine clinicians,” Wilson Compton, MD, MPE, and deputy director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, told Healio Family Medicine. “This study of drug use in youth in America shows that a large number of youth are using electronic systems to administer tobacco products (like nicotine) and other substances (like marijuana). The concern is that such early exposure to nicotine could undermine the progress seen in the lower rates of cigarette use by youth which continues to show improvements.”
Compton explained what primary care physicians can do to broach the subject of drug use with patients.
“[Asking] questions about tobacco use, alcohol and vaping can be a good starting point. Because substance use tends to cluster, youth that report use of any substance are at high risk for use of other substances and should be carefully questioned. The use of screening tools, like those listed by the [National Institute of Drug Abuse], can be helpful to help clinicians consistently query their patients.”
The survey also found that opioid pain medications are misused less frequently than a decade ago, which Nora D. Volkow, MD, and director, National Institute on Drug Abuse, attributed to several factors.
“That is the result of a very aggressive campaign that worked on making those medications harder to access and abuse, such as the [Drug Enforcement Agency’s] drug take back program which limits the accessibility of these pills,” she said in a conference call with reporters.
In addition, Volkow said other surveys showed some adolescents were getting their opioids from a household medicine cabinet. Placing limits on the number of opioids prescribed, she continued, decreases the availability of pills remaining for the adolescents to take.
Some of the other Monitoring the Future survey findings include:
- Past year use of inhalants among eighth graders is still low.
- LSD rates have slowly increased in the last decade.
- Binge drinking has plateaued.
- Methamphetamine, steroid, cocaine and heroin use are still very low.
- Misuse of prescription stimulants commonly prescribed for ADHD symptoms is mostly stable compared with last year.
Lloyd D. Johnston, Ph D, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, said society must not become complacent.
“Having been in the field for 40-some years, I want to urge a note of caution,” he said during the conference call. “There’s a new generation of kids coming in every year, and they don’t know what [older] kids know about drugs. [Younger kids] don’t know why they shouldn’t use drugs any more than they know how to read unless we teach them.”
Compton suggested PCPs remind parents that tools like the Family Check Up, also on the National Institute of Drug Abuse website, show parents how to communicate, encourage, negotiate and monitor their children’s behavior to help prevent drug use by their children.
More than 43,000 students took part in this year’s survey, according to a press release. – by Janel Miller
For more information:
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Monitoring the Future. Available at: http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugpages/MTF.html. Accessed Dec. 12, 2017.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Chart of Evidence-Based Screening Tools for Adults and Adolescents. Available at: https://www.drugabuse.gov/nidamed-medical-health-professionals/tool-resources-your-practice/screening-assessment-drug-testing-resources/chart-evidence-based-screening-tools-adults. Accessed Dec. 12, 2017.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Family Checkup. Available at: https://www.drugabuse.gov/family-checkup. Accessed Dec. 12, 2017.
Disclosures: Compton reports stock holdings in Pfizer, General Electric, and 3M Company. Healio Family Medicine was unable to determine Volkow and Johnston’s relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.