Do you remember your adolescence? Was it a period of gentle, steady maturing or a storm of intense, confusing emotions? For many people it will have been a mixture. What about your own children? Most parents notice changes as their children progress through adolescence. They might become uncharacteristically irritable, over-sleep or break previously accepted rules of behaviour. Out go cuddles, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, replaced by complaints and criticism. This dramatic change is less surprising when we understand that adolescence is a period of massive physical and mental change.

Imagine how it feels for the adolescent. They suddenly find themselves having to cope with intense new emotions, a rapidly changing body and impulses and drives that are confusing and often contradictory. Without a guidebook or instruction manual, they manage by relying on trial and error. Just when they most need the stability and guidance of those around them, their peers are going through the same thing and their parents are missing their sweet, obedient pre-adolescent child. It is perhaps unsurprising, in this roller coaster of change, when the adolescent angrily tells their parents ‘you just don't understand!’

In this chapter, we will focus on the impact of drug use during adolescence. As we will see later, the adolescent brain is especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of drugs, just at the time when drug use is most likely. But why are adolescents at such a high risk of experimenting with drugs and so susceptible to their harmful effects? Before we answer these questions, let's first try to understand what is going on in the young brain.

What is adolescence?

Some have argued that adolescence is not a specific developmental stage but instead an invention of marketing executives looking to sell their products and extract money from parents. Music, fashion, literature and food have all been aimed with increasing precision at the teen market. Most parents will recognise the plea for the latest must-have electronic device or branded clothing, without which social exclusion and humiliation are certain.

When it comes to drugs, the marketing strategies are surprisingly similar. In the legal market, alcopops (alcoholic drinks with added flavours and packaging to appeal to younger drinkers) have been heavily marketed to young people. This strategy is mimicked by ‘head shops’ and online sites, which market so-called ‘legal highs’ using brightly coloured labels and cartoons to attract younger users.