Experiences of drug abuse among adolescents: a community-based crosssectional study

Objective: The current study aimed to determine drug abuse awareness and perception among youths. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted adopting multi-cluster randomized sampling. A standardized self-administered online questionnaire starting with formal consent was used. The answers were collected, scored, and analyzed. Results: Age and gender were represented nearly equally in the 663 response samples, with a dominance of Saudis and university students. A total awareness level of 67.72% was elaborated, with the highest percentage for the social impacts (86.43%). Bad friends were assigned as the most well-known risk factor by consensus (96.2%). In addition, poor concentration was ranked the first psychological problem (79.6%), and crime was the most common social complication (90.20%). Of the preventive measures, religious commitment got the highest level of awareness (87.6%). About 76% of participants declared the high susceptibility of males to addiction. Amphetamines recorded the highest degree of perception (61.1%) and then Cannabis (57.5%). In addition, the Ministry of Health was assigned as the responsible sector for counteracting illicit drug use (86.7%). Social media was selected by 73% as the main source of information. Conclusion: Adolescents had a good awareness level, except for the risk factors and physical complications. The negative relationship between awareness, age, and educational level was clear. Adolescents' perception of the responsible sectors was limited.