Factors influencing drugs and substance abuse among students at Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology- Kenya

The use o f illegal drugs and misuse o f therapeutic drugs has spread at unprecedented rate in public institutions and has reached to every part of the globe. The abuse o f drugs and substances has resulted into different effects among the abusers. In response to this, a broad spectrum of the world community has demonstrated intense concern over the drug abuse problem, its long term effects and its impact on the drug abuser, the family and the society. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing drugs and substance abuse among students at RIAT. The objectives were: to establish the extent to which demographic characteristics o f students influence drugs and substance abuse among students in Ramogi institute o f Advanced Technology, to investigate the level at which student’s background influence drugs and substance abuse among students in Ramogi Institute of advanced Technology determine the extent to which the availability of the drugs influence drugs and substance abuse by students in Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology. The study was carried out in Ramogi Institute o f Advanced Technology. The study targeted students and lecturers in the college. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. Stratified sampling design was used to sample respondents for the study. The researcher used questionnaires and interview guide as instruments for data collection. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and chi square test were used to describe the data. Data analysis was done by the use of computer on SPSS software to determine the relationships between the variables. The study found that Arespondent’s demographic characteristics such as age, gender and marital status influence drug and substance abuse among college students in Ramogi Institute o f Advanced Technology. The study also found that students’ background such as the type o f courses taken, students’ residence, family genetics and drug abuse in high school influence drug and substance abuse among college students. The study finally found that the availability o f drug was a major factor influencing drug and substance abuse among college students. The major types of drugs abused included: bhang and alcohol as indicated by 63% of the respondents, cigarette as indicated by 43%, miraa and kuber and that the major sources o f the drugs were: the local community as indicated by 68% o f the respondents and fellow students as indicated by 21% o f the respondents.Other sources of drugs were: bars, shops, drug dealers and matatu touts. The study concluded that the demographic characteristics o f the respondents such as age gender and marital status influenced drug and substance abuse among the students. The study also concluded that the students background such as the courses taken by the students, high school drug abuse, students residence and family genetics influence drug and substance use among students in colleges. The study finally concluded that the availability of drugs and substances influences drug and substance abuse among students. The study recommended that the college should make efforts to develop drug abuse prevention strategies to address the problem. The study recommended that a similar study should be done in other colleges apart from public colleges on determining the effects of drug and substance abuse among college students.