DRUG ABUSE AMONG STREET YOUTH IN ADDIS ABABA: THE CASE OF YEKA SUB-CITY

Abstract

Drug abuse is a growing problem in Ethiopia, as in many developing countries. It affects millions of people and places enormous financial and social burdens on society. It destroys families, damages the economy and affects the larger community. In Ethiopia, street youth involved in drug abuse also constitute considerable portion of the bigger drug abusing community. Although it has been known that this problem is a pressing issue, the real extent and magnitude of the drug abuse is not yet properly explored. The overall objective of this study is to identify and understand the living condition of drug abusing street youth in Yeka sub city special area Kotebe College, Addis Ababa. It also aim to specifically identify factors that contributes to the initiation of drug abuse, risks and effects of it, the types of drugs abused, reasons for continuing drug use and their intention to stop. Qualitative research method was deployed to gather and analyze the required date. 13 male and female street youth participated in the depth interview and 8 female and male youth took part in the FGD. In-depth interviews and FGD, key informants interview and observation techniques were used as a source of data collection method. Individual case histories were also featured along with the data to supplement the findings. The findings of the study reveals the invisible fact behind the street youth’s drug abusing behavior. Majority of the study participants joined street due to insufficient family income and peer pressure. Cigarette, alcohol, khat, sniffing gasoline and hashish are the drugs abused by the study participants. Curiosity, family factor, peer influence, positive enforcements of drug, availability and normalization among the street youth encouraged the street youth to try drugs at the beginning. Pleasure seeking, relief from stress, to increase physical strength, fear of withdrawal feeling, to kill time and to resist cold and hanger are the main reasons that they are using drug regularly. From this finding, it is possible to conclude that, drug abuse is big problem among the street youth and their intention to stop is low. Finally, in line with the above problem, the researcher recommended strong law enforcements against drug abuse, integrated community awareness raising and prevention program an involvement of Social workers in addressing such issue. Building rehabilitation center and psychiatrist treatment and establishing youth centers were also needed to address the issue