Commonly Used Substances, Factors Contributing to Substance Use, and their Behavioral Impacts:The Case of Halaba Secondary School Students in Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to identify commonly used substances among secondary school students, factors contributing to substance use and their behavioral impacts. Halaba secondary school was purposefully selected due to its strategic importance regarding substance use. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was employed to select 311 female and 500 male students out of the total number of 5,518 grades 9 through 12 students. A survey questionnarie was used to collect data and three focus group discussions were conducted with 24 key informants. According to the finding of this study that followed by inhalants was found to be the most commonly ever used substance . Peer pressure, poor academic performance, family drug use, conflict between parents, poorparental guidance and combination of the factors were reported to have contributed to substance use behavior. In addition, substance users were found to be more anxious, discouraged and unhappy also prone to relationship problems compared to their non substance user counterparts. Moreover, more substance users were involved in sexual practices compared to the non substance users. An integrated approach involving the government , the community and religious leaders schools and parents should be used to control and prevent substance use among school children m Ethiopia.