Substance use and related factors in high school senior students in center of Kahramanmaraş

Background and Objective: Drug addiction is a very dangerous public health problem to be precluded in our country as well as worldwide. Adolescence is the most vulnerable period in terms of starting to use substances. Increase is observed in recent years in the use of tobacco, alcohol and psychoactive substances in our country. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting high school seniors and the status of student substance use and take measures related to substance use in this direction. Materials and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study designed to determine tobacco, alcohol, Maras powder, water pipe, and psychoactive substance use in high-school seniors in the city of Kahramanmaras and what factors might affect the situation. The scope of the research includes 7632 final year high school students in city of Kahramanmaras. To determine the number of students that we need to sample, a study that is carried out on 8 different universities 1st year students in 2005 in Turkey is based on. Including 3% substance abuse, and with a 99% confidence and 1% margin of error 1541 students that we need to sample was detected. The names of 47 high schools put in a bag to and by the simple random number method high school names were taken until student number reached 1541. For students who didn't come to school were gone two more times and work has been completed by reaching all the sample. In this study, questionnaires were administered to students in March and April 2015. 1541 students underwent 59 questions consisting of sociodemographic characteristics, smoking, Maras powder, water pipe, alcohol and substance abuse and also underwent Fagerstrom test consisting of 6 questions. According to Fagerstrom dependence on test scores of 0-2 were much less addict, 3-4 points were less addict, 5 points were moderate addict, 6-7 points were higher addict, and 8-10 points were considered to be very high addict. SPSS 19.0 software was used for data analysis. Frequency, t-test, chi-square, logistic regresyon analysis was performed. Results: The prevalence of smoking among high school seniors in the city of Kahramanmaras was 27.3%, prevalence using the Maras herb was 16.1%, the prevalence of using hookah was 22.4%, and the prevalence of alcohol use was 19.3%, while the prevalence of drug addiction was defined as 6.1%. 48% of the every day smokers began smoking before XVI the age of 15. The average Fagerstrom score of students who was smoke addict was 2.1 ± 1.35, and median score was found to have been 1.00. Most commonly used substances among the students were found to be respectively; volatile substances (% 32.3), cannabis (% 30.1), bonsai (% 8.6), heroin (% 6.5) and ecstasy (% 4.3). Smoking, alcohol and drug use in the family members and close friends were also found frequent in users of these substances. Conclusion: The use of substances based on the results of this study in high school shows increasing trend compared to the past. Rate of substance use among students who expressed their problems comfortably with their mother and father was found to be significantly lower. Therefore, parents must first expanded into the field training. Students said they had no difficulty in reaching the majority of the substances they use. In order to prevent the access to substances, more stringent measures by narcotics branch unit of the police force needs to be taken.