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Lynne Lamberg

JAMA. 2007;298:729-730.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

San Diego—Drug abuse and drug dependence usually start in adolescence, with peak onset around age 19 years. Most drug treatment programs in the United States, however, target people aged 30 years or older.

"We have a gap in our treatment portfolio," said Wilson Compton, MD, director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in Bethesda, Md.

(Photo credit: Sean Locke/iStockphoto.com)

Earlier treatment potentially could avert lifelong disorders, said Compton, who spoke at a symposium on innovations in the treatment of adolescent substance use disorders at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association here in May. NIDA and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry cosponsored the event.

Recent studies suggest drug abuse and addiction are developmental disorders, Compton said. Research in rats shows that maturation of the brain's gray matter moves from back to front. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

GROUP SUPPORT FOR ADOLESCENTS