A study of substance abuse among adolescents

Abstract

Drug abuse among adolescents continues to be a major problem worldwide, and in particular, most teenagers begin to experiment with substances at an early age. The most widely abused substances are alcohol, tobacco and cannabis because they are in excess. Most high schools encounter problems with male who smoke cigarettes and dagga on the school premises. Some of these males come to school under the influence of liquor. Abuse of substances among adolescents is associated with a broad range of high-risk behavior. This type of behavior can have profound health, economic and social consequences, for example, some adolescents participate in deviant peer groups, unprotected sexual intercourse, interpersonal violence, destruction of property and perform poorly in their studies.