英文摘要 |
In order to effectively know the epidemiological characteristics of juvenile drug use and to establish related control strategies, the study aimed to investigate the prevalence of illicit drug use among Juvenile Inmates. The study utilized purposive sampling and surveyed juvenile inmates of Juvenile Detention Houses in New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaohsiung from November 2014 to March 2015. In total, 147 valid questionnaires were collected. The results indicate that majority of juvenile inmate sample is male (128 persons, 87.1 %), 54 persons are 18 years old (37.2%), and 54 persons have middle school educational background (37.2%).Most of the respondents are detained due to offenses related to the Violation of the Narcotics Endangerment Prevention Act (54 people, 36.7%). Regarding substance abuse, findings show that 63.9% of juvenile inmates had held at least one type of drugs. Ketamine is the most popular drug that those juvenile inmates hold (87 persons, 59.6%), followed by Amphetamine (alpha-methyl-phenethylamine, 61 persons, 41.5%), Mephedrone (53 persons, 36.1%), and ecstasy (MDMA, 45 persons, 30.6%). Furthermore, 64.6% of respondents had used at least one type of drugs. Especially, Ketamine is the most widely used drug (90 persons, 61.2%)followed by Amphetamine (56persons, 38.1%), Mephedrone (53 person, 36.1%), and ecstasy (MDMA, 44 persons, 29.9%). In terms of drug price, large price dispersion is observed in the study. For example, Amphetamine costs less than NT $ 3,000 (80%) per serving, ecstasy (MDMA) costs less than NT $ 1,000 (80%) per serving, Mephedrone costs less than NT $ 1,000 (83.3%) per serving, and Ketamine costs less than NT $ 3,500 (80%) per serving. We suggest that, based on the method and monitoring pattern utilized in this study, a long-term drug-use monitoring system for adolescents should be established in Taiwan. Moreover, the physical and mental development of youths and preventing them from learning unhealthy habits deserves more attention from the government and public. Finally, the Government must formulate suitable countermeasures for dealing with the Ketamine using tendency among youths. Taking protection of both privacy and human rights into consideration, countermeasures against the trend of drug dealing through the message software should be discussed and established. |