Background: Prescription and over the counter drugs are used frequently in adolescents. Misuse or abuse of these drugs by adolescents can show narcotic-like effects, which can lead to social problems by giving them opportunities to abuse of narcotics and hallucinogenic drugs. These days, consumers are greatly influenced by advertising, the Internet, and peer groups in making decisions in the drug purchasing process. Recently In these kinds of social environment, some changes have been made in Korea allowing the purchase of certain drugs at retail stores for the convenience of consumers. However, this change made it more difficult for consumers to obtain accurate information about drugs purchased, such as safety, drug interactions, side effects, etc., because of lack of professional drug expert’s involvement in these drug purchase transactions. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of pharmacist involvements in adolescent drug uses through drug abuse prevention education and mutual communication method. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted for middle and high school students in Kyeonggi-do from October 2, 2016 to November 30, 2016, and t-test, ANOVA, factor analysis, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis were conducted using SPSS (ver.17.0). Result: 125 students (63.8%) received drug abuse prevention educations from pharmacists and 71 students (36.2%) did not receive these educations. 128 students (65.3%) have had the experience of drug purchasing at retail stores, indicating drug abuse prevention education was conducted inadequately for adolescents. This easy access to drug purchase may lead to drug abuse in adolescents. Adolescent’s use of medication was 194 (99.0%) for the purpose of treating the disease and 2 (1.0%) for stress relief. 6 (3.1%) students purchased drugs at small retail stores instead of pharmacies or medical institutions and 193 (98.5%) students answered it was easy to purchase drugs, which indicate great concern about drug abuse. Also, 64 (32.7%) students have experienced side effects after taking drugs, which would mean an accurate and detailed medication use guidance is desperately necessary. Conclusion: Gender, health status, drug abuse education taught by pharmacists, and drug purchase route are confirmed as factors influencing adolescent drug abuse. The method of cooperative communication method has shown a more positive effect in adolescent drug abuse. Social factors that have positive impacts on adolescent drug abuse are drug abuse education provided by pharmacists and collaborative communication, so the high quality of education and effective communication are definitely necessary in the future to improve adolescent’s awareness of safe drug use.

Keywords: Future pharmacists, Youth, Substance abuse education, Communication