| Abstract: | Summary The results of this survey confirm those of an earlier one,5and suggest that a young person who both uses illicit drugsand has a history of court findings, either for delinquencyor for 'being in need of care and protection', should be lookedupon as at considerable risk for future progression to narcoticuse. This progression is not simply a correlate of delinquencyor of remand home admission, as only one out of 100 controladmissions was discovered to have subsequently used narcotics.Moreover, this risk is not borne equally by all drug takersas, even on admission, there were significant mean differencesbetween the progressor and non-narcotic groups. The items whichwere most effective in distinguishing the three groups werethose relating to prior personality abnormality, prior psychiatricreferral and difficulty in relating to their peers and to adultsevidenced in their school and work reports. These differencesare thus of prognostic importance and may aid the identificationat an early stage of those soft-drug takers who are most vulnerableto the dangers of subsequent progression to narcotic and intravenousdrugs |
