Drug and Substance Abuse Among Secondary School Students, in Embakasi District, Nairobi County

Abstract

According to the World Drug Report (2005), the use of illicit drugs has increased throughout the world in recent years. The report further states that a major world trend is the increasing availability of many kinds of drugs to an ever widening socioeconomic spectrum of consumers. Findings from a National Survey on Alcohol and Drug Abuse conducted by NACADA in 2012 shows that 13.3% of Kenyans are currently using alcohol, 9.1% tobacco, 4.2% miraa, 1.0% bhang and 0.1% heroin. Overall, bhang is the most easily available illicit drug in the country at 49% followed by cocaine while heroin is the least available illicit drug in the country. According to a national survey on the Rapid Situation Assessment of Drug and Substance Abuse in Kenya (2012), 11.7% of youth aged 15-24 are current users of alcohol, 6.2% tobacco, 4.7% miraa and 1.5% cannabis. In addition, the median age of initiation among the 10-14 year olds to tobacco and alcohol is 10 years. These statistics are an indication of the grave situation faced by children and the youth who are already burdened by other socio-economic challenges such as unemployment. In the Standard Newspaper of June 26th it was reported that Kenya is alarmed over millions of youth wasted by drugs in the Capital City of Nairobi. That the Statistics showing high rates of alcohol and drug abuse among the youth have forced the Government to take drastic action on the peddlers. . It is in this background that this study sought to find out the extent to which drugs are being abused in schools and the level of confidence there is among young Kenyans in school in engaging in drug abuse. The study objectives were to identify the commonly used drugs among the secondary schools students, find out the sources of the commonly abused substances and their influence on academic performance, establish the extent of substance abuse and analyze the level of self-efficacy among these students.The study was guided by Merton’s Goal-Means Gap theory and Cohen’s Status Frustration theory. This was a survey with 360 students selected for the study. The main findings of the study were the commonly abused drug in schools included marijuana, tobacco, Miraa, Khuber, Glue, Cocaine and Heroin. Using the Bandura’s self-efficacy scale, the study found out that most students were highly certain that they can solve difficult problems, accomplish their goals, deal efficiently with unexpected events and also handle unexpected or unforeseen situations when using drugs. Centrally to that the same students had a negative opinion towards drugs. This contradiction is explained that there are situations where people are aware of the dangers in their behaviour: the self-harm and para-suicides are this category. One of the major recommendation made is that the issue of drug abuse among the youth should remain on the agendas of policy makers in the country, especially elected leaders, so as to maintain long-term commitment to solving the drug problem. This could include advocacy, creating awareness, and meet-the-people campaigns.