The Prevention and Treatment of Adolescent Stimulant and Methamphetamine Use

Stimulant (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine) misuse poses a significant public health concern for adolescents given the potential impact on developmental trajectories during a period of dramatic physiological and psychological growth. High-risk behaviors already prominent in adolescents, such as violence, aggression, and unprotected sexual encounters, are also likely to increase following illicit stimulant use. This chapter provides an overview of the current primary prevention and treatment approaches targeting adolescent stimulant misuse. The history and characteristics of stimulant use and misuse, the pharmacology and clinical effects of stimulants, and expected clinical outcomes for stimulant-using adolescents are also provided. A review of the extant literature indicates that stimulant use has received little attention in the primary prevention and treatment literature when compared to adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use. Those studies that do exist suggest that many of those prevention and treatment efforts developed for other substance use may help deter the initiation and reduce the misuse of stimulants in adolescents. Clinically useful prevention and treatment for adolescent stimulant use will likely require multiple approaches tailored to the patient and address factors at the level of the individual, peer, family, and community. More work is needed, however, to develop and test novel evidence-based methods for preventing and treating adolescent stimulant use disorder.