https://goo.gl/88DLI3
The study found that alcohol use caused significant alterations in both electrical and chemical neurotransmission among the study participants, although none of them fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of a substance abuse disorder. Moreover, in an earlier study completed at the University of Eastern Finland, also within the Adolescents and Alcohol Study, cortical thinning was observable in young people who had been heavy drinkers throughout their adolescence. For young people whose brain is still developing, heavy alcohol use is especially detrimental. The findings of the study warrant the question of whether the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse disorders should be tighter for adolescents, and whether they should be more easily referred to treatment. The use of alcohol may be more detrimental to a developing brain than previously thought, although it takes time for alcohol-related adverse effects to manifest in a person's life.