Wambua, Solomon Musembi2012-02-072012-02-072012-02-07http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/2617The HV 5808.W34The consumption of drugs and other related substances was practiced in African traditional societies. This was done within the set rules and regulations that governed the production and supply of these substances and also determined who was to use them. This controlled consumption of drugs was undermined by the coming of colonization in Kenya through the setting up of new social, political and economical structures. These structures commercialized the production and supply of some of these drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. This study has established that drugs of abuse to be easily accessible to most of the adolescents in our learning institutions. The objectives of this study were to find out; the extent of drug abuse in teachers training colleges, sources of these drugs and to identify the factors that influence students to abuse drugs. The study was carried out in primary teacher colleges in Central Province of Kenya. A total number of one hundred and fifty one (151) students were randomly sampled. Two primary teacher colleges were selected for the study while pilot study was done at Kilimambogo Teachers College. The non - parametric ch- square test was used to test for statistical significance at 0.05. A number of null and attentive hypothesis were tested. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant relationship between gender, age, residence and peer pressure, and drug abuse. The study also revealed that there was no significant relationship between family influence or level of education and students' drug abuse. The results further revealed that drug abuse in primary teacher colleges is influenced by many factors such as gender, age residence, peer pressure, having tried drugs and knowledge of drugs. These results showed that drug abuse is a real problem in our primary teacher colleges and needs to be addressed immediately. This is necessary because primary school teachers must lead the war against drug abuse in primary schools as these are the initial stages in education where a firm foundation must be started. The study recommended that establishing counselling services, formulating strict rules to discourage drug trafficking and brewing of illicit beer, and educating the family on how to deal with drug abuse-related problems should be enforced.enDrug abuse --Kenya--Central Province//Thesis