A contribution to the study of young people's attitudes towards drug use and users

A survey of the attitudes towards drug use and users, conducted in 1983 by means of a self-reported questionnaire administered to a sample of 569 students drawn from the general, technical and vocational department of 17 schools at Brussels, showed a diversity of attitudes among respondents: 12 per cent supported the view that drug users had no particular distinguishing feature and should not be subject to the social contraints applied to them; 32.7 per cent expressed compassion for drug users, who, because of their affected health and relations with the authorities, required help but only at their request; 29.7 per cent remained dispassionate and took sides with neither positive or negative attitudes; 12.2 per cent thought that drug users were sick people for whom medical intervention was absolutely necessary, even without their consent; 13.4 per cent thought that drug users were responsible for their condition, which required intervention including severe repressive measures. On the basis of this research, the authors recommended that a drug educational programme should not treat drug use as a monolithic concept confined exclusively to legal and medical definitions, but, instead, should treat it in the context of the prevailing attitudes and factors involved.