Short Report
“So prohibition can work?” Changes in use of novel psychoactive substances among adolescents attending a drug and alcohol treatment service following a legislative ban

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Highlights

  • Problematic use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) fell dramatically after legislation.

  • While some use of NPS persisted, it was greatly reduced after the legal ban.

  • Adolescents who continued to use NPS did so in a lower risk manner.

  • NPS users were more likely to report use of amphetamines.

  • The legal ban did not result in increased use of other substances.

Section snippets

Background

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) have become a source of international concern (European Commission, 2011). The marketplace for these drugs has also been novel. As most NPS were not scheduled in legislation as being illegal, they have been sold commercially both via the internet and in specialist shops known as ‘headshops’ (Dargan et al., 2011, Kelleher et al., 2011).

While NPS are very heterogeneous, they can be broadly grouped by route of use. Firstly, there are the powdered stimulant drugs

Setting

The Youth Drug & Alcohol (YoDA) service is a specialist drug and alcohol treatment service for adolescents in Dublin. Assessment involves clinical interview and completion of structured questionnaires. Building of a therapeutic alliance is prioritised over data gathering. There were no changes to service delivery or referral criteria over the period 2009–2011.

Measures

The National Drug Treatment Report System (NDTRS) form is completed on all patients who complete assessment. Between one and four current

Results

There were 94 assessments commenced by 92 adolescents, with 50 during the pre-ban period, and 44 during the post-ban period. The median age was 17 years (interquartile range [IQR] 15–17) and 83% were male. Only 69% were engaged in education, training or employment. The main referrers were parents (45%) and social workers (21%). There were significantly more males in the pre-ban period (92% vs 73%, p = 0.01). There were no other significant differences between the groups with regard to

Discussion

We found substantial reductions in use of NPS among adolescents entering treatment 6–12 months after legislation prohibiting their use, supply and sale. We deliberately cast the net wide in terms of NPS due to concerns that success at reducing use of a single drug-type might conceal increased use of other emerging and not yet illegal NPS (Dargan et al., 2011). Further new substances did indeed arrive into the drugs marketplace in Ireland following the initial legislation (Kavanagh and Power,

Funding

No external funding was obtained for the purposes of this research project.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare.

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