Drug use and psychiatric symptoms in adolescence.

Drug use and psychiatric symptoms were independently assessed in a random sample of 177 adolescents from a junior high school population. Pupils who used cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, solutions (sniffing), and tranquilizers, all had higher frequencies of psychiatric symptoms than non-users. The use of alcohol was shown the lowest connection with psychiatric symptoms, especially among the males. Smoking was more frequent among the females, and the connection with psychiatric symptoms was stronger than in the males. The importance of both a clinical and a public health approach to drug use in this age group is stressed.