Abstract:

Substance Abuse is not a new phenomenon worldwide but experts believe that the rate at which college students are abusing drugs is so alarming to an extent that it (Substance Abuse) is now one of the major global public health concerns. The National Survey (2010), reported that more of today’s college students are abusing prescription drugs than was the case in the early 1990s and that the number of students involved in the daily use of marijuana doubled to more than 4 percent. Literature review revealed that not only is there an increase of Substance Abuse among college students but also an increase of adverse effects due to binge drinking. It also revealed that higher levels of education i.e. diploma or higher was associated with greater levels of drug abuse. However, despite these concerns, very few studies have in-depth analyzed, let alone prescribe the measures of addressing the problem. A number of studies conducted in the United States of America (U.S.) have indicated that SA is becoming a serious public health problem nationwide as well as globally. However, not much has been done to address this problem. The main objective of this study was to establish the extent of the problem of Substance Abuse in order to have a basis of prescribing measures to address the issue among college students. The study brought to light the extent and effects of Substance Abuse and as such, will benefit not only college authorities and students but parents and policymakers in order to come up with mitigation strategies.

References:

[1].Afzali, S., et al (2013). Frequency of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Observed in Drivers Killed in Traffic Accidents in Hamadan, Iran. Arch Iran Med. 2013; 16(4): 240 - 242.

[2].Fink, B., Landthaler, M., & Hafner, C., (2011). Skin Alterations due to Abuse of Illegal Drugs. DOI: 10.1111/j.1610-0387.2011.07699.x

[3].Gillespie et al., (2012). The Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study: Pathways to Cannabis Use, Abuse, and Dependence Project—Current Status, Preliminary Results, and Future Directions Volume 16 Number 1 pp. 21–33 C _ The Authors 2012 doi:10.1017/thg.2012.111

[4].Iannotti, R. J., (2000). Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), 2005-2006ICPSR 28241. United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development from: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/SAMHDA/series/64/studies?q=data+set+address

[5].Kim et al. (2012). Validation of key behaviorally based mental health diagnoses in administrative data: suicide attempt, alcohol abuse, illicit drug abuse and tobacco use. BMC Health Services Research 2012, 12:18 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/18

[6].Linskey, et al., (2012). An Australian Twin Study of Cannabis and Other Illicit Drug Use and Misuse, and Other Psychopathology Volume 15 Number 5 pp. 631–641 C _ The Authors 2012 doi:10.1017/thg.2012.41

[7].Lisha et al. (2012). An Evaluation of Immediate Outcomes and Fidelity of a Drug Abuse Prevention Program in Continuation High Schools: Project towards no Drug Abuse (Tnd) J. Drug Education, Vol. 42(1) 33-57, 2012

[8].MedlinePlus (2013) Drug Abuse from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001945.htm

[9].MedlinePlus (2013) Drug dependence from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001522.htm

[10]. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) (2012). Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction

[11]. Oshri, A., Tubman, G. J., & Burnette, M. L., (2012). Childhood Maltreatment Histories, Alcohol and Other Drug Use Symptoms, and Sexual Risk Behavior in a Treatment Sample of Adolescents. Supplement 2, 2012, Vol 102, No. S2

[12]. Rhodes, W. A., Singleton, E., & McMillan, B. T., et al., (2005). Does Knowledge of College Drinking Policy Influence Student Binge Drinking? Journal 0f American College Health, Vol. 54, No. 1

[13]. Samouei, R., (2013). Why Some Previous Drug Abuse Preventive Programs Had Low Effectiveness? DOI: 10.5455/medarh.2013.67.68-72 Med Arh. 2013 Feb; 67(1): 68-72 Received: January 01st 2013 | Accepted: February 20th 2013

[14]. WebMD (2013). Mental Health. Substance Abuse downloaded from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/substance-abuse

[15]. Wickizer, T., (2013). State-Level Estimates of the Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Health Care Finance 2013; 39(3):71–84 Copyright © 2013 CCH Incorporated

[16]. World Health Organization (WHO) (2012), Substance Abuse retrieved from: http://www.who.int/topics/substance+abuse/en/