ABSTRACT:

Objective: Drug abuse is use of drugs that causes physical, psychological, legal or social harm to the individual user or to others affected by the drug user’s behavior. Youth substance use and the resulting damage are recognized as significant global public health issues in society today and the loss in terms of human potential is incalculable. There is a need to stem the tide of drug abuse. Hence this study was done to evaluate the drug abuse pattern in youth.

Materials & Methods: A population based cross sectional observational study was conducted. Participants were from three different colleges in Bangalore. Study was conducted on 300 participants during the month of August 2011. A standard questionnaire was adopted from CSR.

Result: This paper evaluated the drug abuse pattern in both the sexes of age group 17- 21 years. Only 293 questionnaires were valid. The present study showed that tobacco abuse was high among both sexes of urban background when compared to alcohol and other drugs. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse and to conclude the results.

Conclusion: Substance use and abuse wear out individuals, families and communities. Progress should be made in identifying precursors to use, understanding the developmental progress of alcohol and drug use disorders, and designing prevention programs that successfully avert substance use and abuse.

Keywords: drug abuse, youth, tobacco, alcohol

Download Full Journal