About 90 percent of Americans with substance use disorders started using alcohol or other drugs before they turned 18, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
“Teenage brains adapt more quickly to repeated drug use, leading to cravings and dependence,” according to an article on the website drugrehab.com.
Our recent series on teen suicide, Before It’s Too Late, discussed how the brains of young people play a role on that irreversible action — how the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls judgment, impulse control and other crucial thinking, isn’t fully developed until age 25 or so.
