DRUG-USING TEENS OFTEN HAVE GAMBLING PROBLEMS, TOO

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Some teenagers receiving treatment for
marijuana or other drug abuse should be assessed and treated for
gambling problems as well, according to the results of a new study.

The findings show that a significant number of adolescents getting
treatment for drug abuse also had a gambling problem, "yet gambling
problems are rarely assessed or treated, even in high-risk
populations," study author Dr. Nancy M. Petry of the University of
Connecticut Health Center in Farmington told Reuters Health.

"Greater severity of (gambling-related) problems may hinder drug
abuse recovery," she added.

To investigate, Petry and co-author Zeena Tawfik studied 255
adolescents aged 12 to 18 who were seeking treatment for marijuana
abuse.

Roughly 38% of the study participants reported gambling at least one
or more days during the past 90 days and about one in five said they
had gambling-related problems, according to the report in the
November issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry.

Those who reported gambling-related problems were more likely to be
male, African American and to come from a single-parent home, the
investigators found.

In general, problem gamblers tested positive for marijuana more often
than did their peers, engaged in more frequent drug and alcohol use
and had more legal problems--such as being on probation and
participating in illegal activity to obtain money, the report
indicates. Crimes such as passing bad checks, selling drugs and
injuring another person to the point where he or she needed medical
attention were also more common among problem gamblers.

Further, problem gamblers exhibited more severe psychiatric
problems--for example, anxiety and victimization symptoms--than did
their peers, but were less likely to say they had received mental
health treatment, the authors report.

Sexually risky behaviors such as not using contraception, trading sex
for drugs or money, and having an increased number of sexual partners
were also more common among the problem gamblers.

"The data from this study demonstrate that the adolescents with both
gambling and drug use disorders have more severe problems along a
number of dimensions," Petry said.

In light of this, "a greater awareness of gambling problems in
adolescents is needed," she added.