Are teens particularly vulnerable to becoming addicted to drugs?
Teens are in a period of tremendous upheaval regarding how their bodies are changing and their brains as well. In fact, scientists only recently learned how much brain development goes on during the adolescent years and well into early adulthood. This means that the teen brain is wired somewhat differently from the adult brain and that exposure to drugs (or other important stimuli) during this phase can affect how the brain develops. We know that teen decision making is often different from that of adults, and can involve more risk-taking. Some of this is good–helping teens learn who they are and what they want to be, but some risks can have serious negative consequences as well–a factor that’s less impressive to the teen brain. What we do know is that early drug use is associated with later drug problems–whether this is because of changes in the brain that are especially prominent during adolescence, or other factors, such as co-occurring depression or anxiety, or exposure to traum
