Study of Misuse of Drugs among Secondary School Children

Two studies in this area of research were conducted, the first in the west coast states of Penang and Selangor, followed by a comparative study in the east coast state of Kelantan. The misuse of drugs by secondary school children in Malaysia has caused considerable public and official concern. These studies were conducted to investigate the extent and nature of illicit drug taking amongst Malaysian secondary school children; and to compare the drug using individuals against their non-drug using contemporaries in terms of their social background, educational aspirations and performance, social relationships, general attitudes and value system, self concepts, and their knowledge of and attitude towards drug and drug taking, as well as the reasons drug users give for their habit and comparison of the users of different types of drug in these regions.

The west coast study gives an introduction to the scientific background, and considers the drugs in use (ganja (cannabis), heroin, morphine, opium, sedatives, tranquillizers, amphetamines) and their effects, and the social and psychological characteristics of the drug user. An appropriate methodology is suggested for dealing with as sensitive a topic as drug use. The studies describe the patterns of drug use revealed on self-reported questionnaires administered to over 16,000 school children in the west coast states and to over 4,700 school children in Kelantan. Striking similarities were found between the east and west coast states in all the study aspects surveyed. Both surveys showed a very consistent picture of the level and nature of drug abuse amongst this sample population. The three states of Penang, Selangor and Kelantan – have contrasting traditions and present-day economic and social concerns; and yet in all three the problem of youthful drug abuse have been shown to have much the same characteristics. That ten percent of the secondary school population has experience of drug substances, some of which may be addictive and all of which are illegal, is cause for concern; but that the majority of these individuals cease the use of drugs after brief experimentation is reason for responding to the problem with caution. Over-reaction on the part of society might well have the effect of maintaining such experimenters on their drugs, and increasing the already apparent interest in illegal drugs admitted to by a significant minority of individuals who have never experienced any illegal drug. (Indeed, a realistic way was expressed to members of the survey team by a number of headmasters in Kelantan, who feared that the very conducting of survey might itself strengthen curiosity about drugs amongst their pupils).

The studies concluded that there is a serious problem of drug abuse without this problem reaching epidemic proportions, the treatment facilities available are inadequate; the most damaging way society – parents, teachers, policy makers and others – could respond would be to see the issue as a social menace, without realizing the normal human motivations that have led the adolescent generation to use drugs; treat the curious and experimenting adolescent as reasonable individuals who can be educated; treat regular users in a compassionate manner rather than alienating them by the process of stigmatization; be honest in using the process of influence; and above all realize that the menace to society lies in the manufacturers, traffickers and pushers of drugs rather than in their commercial victims.