TITLE:
Research on the Cognitive Blind Spots and Countermeasures of New Psychoactive Substances among Chinese Adolescents
AUTHORS:
Longxian Zhang, Guixiang Kuang, Yarui Yue, Yuanyuan Cheng, Han Lu
KEYWORDS:
Adolescents, New Psychoactive Substances, Cognitive Blind Spots
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.8,
August
26,
2026
ABSTRACT: The international illicit drug situation is becoming increasingly complex, and New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are emerging endlessly. Although anti-drug education is highly disseminated, due to the trend of drug addiction and drug abuse at a younger age, young people have multiple cognitive blind spots regarding disguised NPS, the hazards of illicit drugs, illicit drug legislation, and anti-drug education for young people needs to be strengthened. This article provides a narrative review of the five major shortcomings in adolescents’ awareness of new drugs by summarizing previous relevant empirical research, and combines four types of intervention strategies: cognitive intervention, physical-object recognition training, stratified prevention information dissemination, and collaborative legal education involving families, schools, and communities. This provides theoretical support and practical approaches to improve adolescents’ refusal intentions towards illicit drugs and mitigate illicit drug use risks.