Drug-Use Amongst Teenagers in Romania and the Republic of Moldavia"

Drug-use among teenagers in two ex-communist countries, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, was studied both in isolation and on a comparative basis. The group carried out a psycho-social study, gaining data from two representative samples of teenagers (N=713 in Romania and N=760 in Moldova). Teachers, parents and experts were also interviewed, using focus groups, questionnaires and 3 individual interviews. Aspects of the phenomenon investigated were the extent of drug use (frequency of consumption, kinds of drugs used, and categories of teenage consumers, by age, gender, residential areas, occupational status, marketplaces and traffickers); internal and external stimulating and inhibiting factors, the attitude of all four categories of subjects to drug abuse in teenagers, and strategies for combating this and other such problems.

Drug Use and Attitudes Toward Drugs among Young Bulgarian Males

This project aimed to evaluate young people's attitudes towards drugs and to draft preventive strategies for use among young people at school and during military service. Three target groups were surveyed: young heroin users in Sofia, drug users undergoing treatment in the Military Medical Academy, and male students between the ages of 16 and 18. The research showed that more than half the respondents had used heroin for the first time before they were 16 and 11% tried it first at the age of 13, the lowest age registered since drug use in Bulgaria has been studied. One in five male students aged 16 to 18 has used hashish or marijuana at least once and amphetamines and non-prescription medications are the second-choice drugs for Bulgarian school pupils. The best predictors of drug use among young people are drug use among friends, early alcohol and tobacco use, perceived availability of drugs, an underrating of the health hazards of drug use and a lack of proper information about these, willingness to take drugs, where and with whom the young people have grown up, and a sensation-seeking attitude.