Psychoactive substance uses among homeless adolescents in Bogotá

Abstract

The consumption of psychoactive substances is a phenomenon with territorial and population differences that is a matter of public health in Colombia. This study aims to answer specifically what were the patterns of psychoactive substance use among homeless adolescent in Bogota during 2017? To do so, use will be made of the most recent information available for Bogota on street dwellers, corresponding to the Census conducted in 2017. The type of research developed was mixed and the research design was non-experimental of transversal cut. The statistical techniques used corresponded to non-parametric tests, among them: Spearman correlation, the Friedman test and the U-test. Among the main findings it is found that: (i) most of the street dwellers between 14 and 20 years of age were male and that the main reason for living on the street was the influence of other people; (ii) there are significant differences in the consumption of psychoactive substances between male and female adolescent street dwellers, aged between 14 and 20 years; (iii) according to the number of users the substances most consumed by male adolescents were in their order: cigarette (85%), marijuana (79%), basuco (68%), alcohol (35%); as for females, the most consumed substances were cigarette (42%) and marijuana (29%). It was also possible to establish that although the Comprehensive Policy for the Prevention and Care of Psychoactive Substance Use may be well designed, its most notorious shortcomings are to be found in: (i) the monitoring and evaluation component; (ii) the non-guarantee of available resources; (iii) the articulation of actors and institutions for its compliance.