VIDEO: How physicians can reduce risks of adolescent drug addiction

SAN DIEGO – Children and adolescents are at great risk for experimentation with drugs, and they’re also more vulnerable than adults to addiction, warned Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Md.

The adolescent brain is particularly malleable, she cautioned, which is why it changes faster than an adult’s brain when teenagers take drugs.

In a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Volkow discusses drug experimentation’s impact on teens’ decision-making, the long-term effects of addiction in adolescents, and the interventions that pediatricians can take to reduce the risk of teen drug use.

SAN DIEGO – Children and adolescents are at great risk for experimentation with drugs, and they’re also more vulnerable than adults to addiction, warned Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Md.

The adolescent brain is particularly malleable, she cautioned, which is why it changes faster than an adult’s brain when teenagers take drugs.

In a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Volkow discusses drug experimentation’s impact on teens’ decision-making, the long-term effects of addiction in adolescents, and the interventions that pediatricians can take to reduce the risk of teen drug use.

SAN DIEGO – Children and adolescents are at great risk for experimentation with drugs, and they’re also more vulnerable than adults to addiction, warned Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Md.

The adolescent brain is particularly malleable, she cautioned, which is why it changes faster than an adult’s brain when teenagers take drugs.

In a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Volkow discusses drug experimentation’s impact on teens’ decision-making, the long-term effects of addiction in adolescents, and the interventions that pediatricians can take to reduce the risk of teen drug use.