NCJ Number
178704
Journal
Bulletin of the World Health Organization Volume: 77 Issue: 3 Dated: 1999 Pages: 258-262
Date Published
1999
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reports the results of a survey that assessed the prevalence of illicit drug use among high school students in Jamaica.
Abstract
In the 1994-95 academic year, there were 56 secondary high schools in the 14 parishes of Jamaica, with an enrollment of 27,051 students in grades 10 and 11. A total of 2,417 high-school students in 26 schools were included in the survey: 1,063 boys and 1,354 girls, of whom 1,317 were tenth-grade students (mean age 15.7 years) and 1,100 were eleventh-grade students (mean age 16.8 years). Of the responding students, 1,072 and 1,345 were from rural and urban schools, respectively; and 1,126 and 1,291 were children of parents who were professionals and nonprofessionals, respectively. The following drugs were used by the students: marijuana (10.2 percent), cocaine (2.2 percent), heroin (1.5 percent), and opium (1.2 percent). Illicit drug use among males, urban students, and children of professionals was higher than that among females, rural students, and children of nonprofessionals, respectively. The findings thus show that drug use and drug abuse affect children in all cultural and socioeconomic groups, not just the poor and the undereducated. Since the use of drugs is relatively common among high-school students in Jamaica, measures to reduce this use should be a priority. Although the problem is multifaceted, prevention by education is important. Among the measures used should be the prevention of primary initiation as well as secondary progression into adult abuse and to more hazardous drugs. 22 references