Reducing harm caused by substance use in adolescents

There are an estimated 10-100 million street children and young people worldwide, mostly in developing countries.1 Substance abuse and mental and physical health problems among street children are substantial problems and the provision of medical care poses enormous challenges to organisations working with this population. Regarding substance use, we have adapted the treatment approaches of Slesnick and colleagues, who showed that young people who received a standard treatment protocol targeting substance abuse behaviour reported significantly reduced substance use and depression, and improved social stability.4,5 These studies were the first to show that homeless young people can be engaged into treatment and respond favourably to intervention efforts.