KNOWLEDGE AND DRUG ABUSE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE TOWN OF LARESTAN

Drug abuse is one of the problematic issues in almost every countries in the world. To assess knowledge and drug abuse among young adults, particularly in university students is more important. Therefore this study was conducted in order to assess knowledge and drug abuse among students. The study design was cross-sectional. In the study, 200 students who were studying in lar 2004, were randomly selected. Data were gathered by a questionnarie with acceptable validity & relability. Reliability of the instrument was assessed by test retest method (r=0/84). One hundrd and ninty two out of 200 students responded to the questionnaire. The questionnair consisted of demographic characteristic items regarding knowledge of drug dependency and addiction signs & symptomes of drug abuse and it's side effect among drug useres. The study results showed that, at least 22.4% of the total subjects (N=200), had used illegal drugs and about 38% of the subjects were participated in a drug abuse party. One of the study findings was statistically significant regarding relationship between living in the university dormitory and drug abuse (P=0.0001). In addition, 65% percent of the subjects believed that religious bond could prevent people to have a tendency to drug abuse invasion. It seem that, living in the university dormitories is a predisposing factor in the pattern of drug abuse. Therefore, it would be necessary that to pay more attention to the environmental living situation of the students, in the universities.