Causes of Youth and Juvenile Tendency to Drugs in Mahalat City and Prevention and Coping Strategies

The trend of increasing number of drug addicts and seizures in Mahallat is a worrying situation, with about 52 kg of drugs seized in 2012. Certainly combating the tendency of youth and adolescents to use drugs needs understanding its causes to provide effective prevention and coping strategies.

This is a descriptive-analytic research. The statistical population of the study consisted of 35 addicts who were treated and randomly selected. In this respect, a researcher-made questionnaire was distributed among them. Independent sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicated that dependency on friends and peers, family role, drug availability, community curiosity and individual factors (such as age, education, etc.) affects youth and adolescents' tendency to drug addiction. In order to prevent and reduce the tendency of people to use drugs, it is suggested that different social institutions (family, school and community) modify existing media programs, create leisure activities, educate youth and teens, and raise family education, parental attention. Encourage your child's friends, families, and individuals to prevent drug-induced youth and adolescents from neighborhoods.