{"id":351749,"date":"2025-12-11T19:25:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=351749"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:08:18","slug":"drug-abuse-among-school-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/drug-abuse-among-school-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug Abuse Among School children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> The post \u201cDrug Abuse Among School children\u201d <\/strong>has been created, based on \u201cKids as young as 11 dabbling in drugs, shows 10-city survey\u201d<\/strong> published in \u201cTimes of India\u201d on 11 December 2025. Drug Abuse Among School children.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Drug<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper-2- Social Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>: The multi-city survey shows that substance use among schoolchildren begins at an average age of 12.9 years. The findings indicate a growing public-health challenge that needs urgent and coordinated action. The study covered 5,920 students across 10 cities, capturing a broad national pattern.<\/p>\n

Key Findings of the Survey<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Lifetime Prevalence:<\/strong> The survey found that 15.1% of students had used a psychoactive substance at least once. It reported that 10.3% had used substances in the past year and 7.2% in the past month.<\/li>\n
  2. Common Substances:<\/strong> Tobacco (4%) and alcohol (3.8%) were the most used, followed by opioids (2.8%), cannabis (2%), and inhalants (1.9%). Most opioid use originated from non-prescribed pharmaceutical pills, showing easy access.<\/li>\n
  3. Age Variation:<\/strong> Students in Classes XI\u2013XII were nearly twice as likely to use substances compared to Class VIII students.<\/li>\n
  4. Gender Differences:<\/strong> Boys reported higher use of tobacco and cannabis, whereas girls reported higher use of inhalants and pharmaceutical opioids.<\/li>\n
  5. Under-Reporting Risk:<\/strong> Over 50% of students admitted they would hide their substance use if questioned, suggesting concealed prevalence.<\/li>\n
  6. Mental-Health Link:<\/strong> Past-year users reported higher psychological difficulties (31%) compared to non-users (25%). Users showed greater conduct problems, hyperactivity, and emotional distress.<\/li>\n
  7. Family and Peer Influence:<\/strong> Around 40% of students reported substance use within their homes, normalizing the behaviour. Students with substance-using peers were significantly more likely to consume substances themselves.<\/li>\n
  8. Low Help-Seeking:<\/strong> Only 1% of young users sought help, indicating a severe treatment gap.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Associated Risk Factors<\/strong><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Easy Availability:<\/strong> Substances like tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, and opioids are easily accessible to adolescents.<\/li>\n
    2. Emotional Distress:<\/strong> Lack of mental-health support pushes children to use substances as coping mechanisms.<\/li>\n
    3. Family Normalisation:<\/strong> Substance use at home reduces perceived risk and encourages experimentation.<\/li>\n
    4. Peer Pressure:<\/strong> Peer groups strongly influence early initiation and continued use.<\/li>\n
    5. Weak Regulation:<\/strong> Poor control over pharmaceutical sales allows minors to access prescription opioids.<\/li>\n
    6. Brain Vulnerability:<\/strong> The adolescent brain\u2019s sensitivity increases the risk of addiction and long-term harm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Higher Addiction Risk:<\/strong> Early initiation significantly increases the likelihood of long-term dependence.<\/li>\n
      2. Academic Deterioration:<\/strong> Substance use contributes to falling grades, absenteeism, and poor school engagement.<\/li>\n
      3. Mental-Health Decline:<\/strong> Emotional instability, anxiety, depression, and behavioural issues intensify.<\/li>\n
      4. Gendered Vulnerabilities:<\/strong> Rising substance use among girls reflects hidden self-medication and secrecy.<\/li>\n
      5. Social Impact:<\/strong> Family conflict, secrecy, and risky behaviours escalate, affecting long-term social functioning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Measures Needed<\/strong><\/h2>\n
          \n
        1. School-Based Measures<\/strong>\n
            \n
          1. Early Prevention:<\/strong> Programmes should begin before middle school to delay experimentation.<\/li>\n
          2. Counselling Strengthening:<\/strong> Schools must build robust counselling and mental-health support systems.<\/li>\n
          3. Regular Screening:<\/strong> Routine mental-health assessments should identify at-risk children early.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
          4. Family-Level Measures<\/strong>\n
              \n
            1. Open Communication:<\/strong> Parents must initiate honest conversations about substance risks and emotions.<\/li>\n
            2. Warning Sign Recognition:<\/strong> Families should be trained to spot mood changes, secrecy, and falling academic performance.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
            3. Community & Regulatory Measures<\/strong>\n
                \n
              1. Stricter Enforcement:<\/strong> Stronger laws must restrict the sale of substances to minors.<\/li>\n
              2. Pharmacy Oversight:<\/strong> Monitoring is needed to prevent the sale of non-prescribed opioids.<\/li>\n
              3. Awareness Campaigns:<\/strong> Community programmes should educate both parents and adolescents.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
              4. Health-System Measures<\/strong>\n
                  \n
                1. Adolescent Services:<\/strong> More adolescent-friendly treatment and counselling centres are needed.<\/li>\n
                2. Integrated Education:<\/strong> Substance-use awareness should be included in school health programmes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
                3. Research & Monitoring<\/strong>\n
                    \n
                  1. Regular Surveys:<\/strong> Continuous data collection is essential to track emerging trends.<\/li>\n
                  2. Targeted Strategies:<\/strong> Gender- and age-specific interventions must be developed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Conclusion: <\/strong>The survey signals dangerously early substance initiation among schoolchildren. Effective response requires integrated action from schools, families, communities, and health systems.<\/p>\n

                    Question:<\/strong> Early substance use among schoolchildren is emerging as a major public-health concern in India. Examine the key risk factors behind this trend and suggest multi-level measures to address it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    Source: The post \u201cDrug Abuse Among School children\u201d has been created, based on \u201cKids as young as 11 dabbling in drugs, shows 10-city survey\u201d published in \u201cTimes of India\u201d on 11 December 2025. Drug Abuse Among School children. UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper-2- Social Justice Context: The multi-city survey shows that substance use among schoolchildren begins… Continue reading Drug Abuse Among School children<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":351835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[212,232,10496],"class_list":["post-351749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-social-justice","tag-times-of-india","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Drug-Abuse-Among-School-children.png?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}