Trends in narcotic consumption among school children in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Addiction to liquor and drugs has been identified as a serious health issue and a social menace in Sir Lanka today. Apparently, the youngsters in the prime age group have a risk to addict for narcotic consumption. Its continuous use by children could even lead them to more serious addictions such as heroin. There is always the possibility of such children becoming drug users, too. The core objective of the research was to investigate the prevailing narcotic consumption trends among Sri Lankan school children and the general objectives were to determine the prevailing narcotic consumption trends in the sample area and determine prevailing attitudes and reasons for narcotic consumption. The study was conducted in Kuliyapitiya education zone of Kurunegala district. Hence the study was focused among school children who are above grade 10 belonging to the Kuliyapitiya education zone. Questionnaires were used to collect the information. The questions asked were straightforward and easy to comprehend. SPSS software was used for analyzing the data. The 200 sample units were selected based on cluster sampling method. The age distribution of the sample population comprised of the age range from 15?20 years. All the students taken for the study were boys and there were 56% of 16 years old students. 54% students in the sample were studing in rural schools and others in urban. According to the responses, it was found that 63% has never used narcotic while 61.9% among them who had used narcotic in the previous month. The highest percentage of narcotic users were consuming at special occasions (35.9%) while the lowest percentage using daily (16.7%). Among the reasons given on the use of narcotic, the majority (71.8%) have mentioned that they use narcotic to socialize with friends. There was a higher significant habitual addiction for narcotic in urban school children than the rural students.