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The Thoughts of the Youth in Turkey on Drug-fighting Policies
JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
Turkey, which has a law enforcement-oriented structure on the fight against drugs,
has a better position than many European countries. In this context, very serious
monetary resources and personel are allocated to prevent drug use and trade, and se-
izure rates of such substances are better than European countries (Pınarcı, 2014: 39).
When the activities carried out in the field of combat against addiction in Turkey are
observed, it is seen that they mostly concentrate on prevention, prohibitive regulati-
ons and law enforcement. For that reason, a sense raises that the struggle with addi-
ction is reduced to a pure order and health problem in the public. The work in the field
of prevention, however, is not systematic. These studies are mostly informative and
educational studies which consist of; preparation and dissemination of documents,
posters, brochures, booklets, etc.; publishment of public spots; organizing seminars,
conferences and symposiums in order for raising public awareness. In addition to
these studies, it is not possible today to mention the existence of an effective early
intervention mechanism, especially for disadvantageous and risky groups, aimed for
early detection of substance use and the prevention of drug use before becoming
addicted (Cumhurbaşkanlığı, 2014: 814).
In the study, a survey was designed and carried out, since the policies to combat the
drug problem in Turkey were tried to be measured on the basis of the perception of
young people/citizens. The survey was conducted within the scope of the research
project titled “Social Perception about Turkey’s Policy to Combat Drugs in the Fra-
mework of the Public Policy Approach”. The study of the project was carried out on
a total of 1001 participants in 51 districts of 15 cities
1
. The data and findings used
in this study involve a part of that project. Therefore, in this study only the views of
18-24 aged participants (191 participants) on the issue of drug-fighting policies in our
country have been considered.
A fully structured questionnaire was used as a data collection tool in the survey. At the
beginning of the questionnaire, it was stated that the research was made by whom
and for what purpose. The research was supported by Necmettin Erbakan University
Scientific Research Coordination Office and the obtained personal data were promi-
sed to be used in no way other than the research. The questionnaire form to provide
the necessary data for the research involves two main sections. In the first part, there
are questions about determining the socio-demographic characteristics of the partici-
pants and in the second part there are questions for measuring the public perception
levels on the public policies applied in the field of combating the drug problem in
Turkey.
1
The Statistical Region Units Classification (NUTS) was used wile determining the cities to conduct the questionnaire
study and the number of interviews to be held in the cities was decided by stratifying them according to the number of
voters in the General Parliamentary Elections on November 1, 2015.
