NCJ Number
187156
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2000 Pages: 457-467
Date Published
December 2000
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This paper outlines some of the contemporary adolescent drug use issues in Australia and their contexts before describing the Adolescent Forensic Health Service and some of the ethical issues faced when providing health care to this highly disadvantaged and needy group.
Abstract
Data from the 1998 National Drug Strategy Household Survey showed 52 percent of young people aged 14-24 years had an opportunity to use cannabis in the last 12 months, and 38 percent did actually use cannabis in the last 12 months; 10 percent used amphetamines; 10 percent used hallucinogens; 7 percent used ecstasy; 2 percent reported cocaine use; 2.3 percent reported use of inhalants; and 1.3 percent reported heroin use. Homelessness, physical and sexual abuse, criminal behavior, and involvement with law enforcement and justice systems are closely connected with illicit drug use in adolescence. The Adolescent Forensic Health Service (AFHS) was established in February 1999 to provide a wide range of health services to juvenile justice clients in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. The conceptual framework of the AFHS encompasses a multidisciplinary approach, a balancing of rights to health care and reduced offending, a harm-minimization approach, access to health services for juveniles in custody, drug dependence as a health problem, and methadone maintenance for adolescents in custody. Some of the ethical issues confronting health professionals in the AFHS are the rights of youth in custody to the health care services at least equal to those available in the community, clients' competency to give informed consent within an involuntary setting, confidentiality and its limitations for clients of the AFHS, and dilemmas in research and evaluation of AFHS services. 1 table, 1 figure, and 40 footnotes