Introduction
Kosovo is a self-declared independent country that lies at the center of the Balkan, south East of Europe. Kosovo’s inhabitants are Europe’s second poorest due to the high rate of corruption existing in the nation (Zupančič et al.). The nation has an unemployment rate of 33%, with young unemployment reaching 60% (Ziberi et al.). Approximately 45% of the population in Kosovo lives below the poverty line, with 15% of the people living in severe poverty (Ziberi et al.). The use of narcotic drugs has become a global problem, causing worry in Kosovo and globally. Even though there are no exact figures on how many people use narcotic drugs regularly in Kosovo, the number of teenagers who are negatively affected by these substances is constantly on the rise.
Additionally, the use of opioids by primary and secondary school teenagers is a serious concern. The objective is to determine the variables that contribute to the rise of this issue, which is particularly prevalent among adolescents and poses a threat to public order, public health, and safety. This study aims to provide a more accurate portrayal of narcotic users among the teenagers who live in both the rural and urban areas of Kosovo.
History of Drug Use in Kosovo
Heroin has been used in Kosovo since the 1970s, and the number of addicts has risen dramatically in recent years. Despite the lack of official statistics, important informants in the public and non-profit sectors believe that the number of drug users in Prishtina, the capital and largest city, is approximately 1,500 (Azemi). Southeastern European nations, especially Kosovo, are on opium and heroin transit routes between growing areas and Western European consumer markets. The most commonly used substances are heroin and marijuana, which appear to be readily accessible. Cocaine and synthetic narcotics appear to exist as well but in smaller quantities. Professionals and injectable drug users have confirmed sharing injecting equipment such as needles. Substance abuse is now governed under regulations about mental health.
Why Most Teenagers in Kosovo Abuse Narcotic Drugs
Availability and Access to the Drugs
For several years, Kosovo has always been on the primary drug trafficking routes from east to west. This has resulted in a spike in the number of substance abusers in the nation, particularly after 1999, exacerbating the present predicament in Kosovo. Kosovo is also among the drug trafficking destinations in the Balkan drug trafficking routes. Although cocaine is not transported via Kosovo, it is smuggled into the country in tiny amounts for local use, a trend that has risen marginally over time. Smuggled heroin is being kept in Kosovo in increasing volumes for consumption by local consumers, including students. There have been attempts to manufacture several medicines domestically in the past few years, with the domestic production of cannabis sativa being among them. The drug markets in the various towns and rural areas of Kosovo have promoted the significant usage of narcotic drugs.
Depression
Individuals who are vulnerable and are unable to contain their depressed conditions or those who are unable to get help from experts are often finding themselves adopting the use of these illicit narcotics. Depression does always come about when teenagers have engaged in embarrassing situations. They feel guilty and ashamed, receive a lower grade, or lack proper completion of academic issues. Additionally, the depressing scenario can also be the inability to contain abuses or neglect due to the physical appearance. Most teenagers also engage in drug abuse because they have been shunned by their parents, who do not get along with them due to destructive behaviors. When most teenagers are sent away from home, their abusive habits intensify due to depression; they tend to abuse more the substance, which is unhealthy for them.
Effect of Narcotic Drugs on the Kosovo Teenagers
Health Consequences
Teenagers who abuse drugs in Kosovo are more prone to various diseases, such as sexually transmitted diseases, which have made users more vulnerable to other diseases like tuberculosis. Sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, Chlamydia, and HIV/Aids are the most common type of diseases in Kosovo teenagers. When the teenagers share injectable drug instruments like syringes, they increase the chances of transmission of HIV and Aids among themselves. Additionally, some teenagers do engage in sexual practices such as homosexuality among men; with such, they are also at a high risk of contracting Chlamydia, HIV/Aids, and other sexually transmitted infections.
Due to a lack of broad understanding among healthy teenage drug users about the medications’ adverse effects, deaths associated with drug overdoses are frequently documented as cardiac arrests. Furthermore, there is no collaboration or coordination between the various authorities and no information about substance-related mortalities. Although the Institute of Forensic Medicine’s Toxicology Laboratory can validate drug-related death cases, there is a shortage of information and knowledge regarding the presence of such a certified institution. In the cases of death cases related to drug overdose, institutes of forensics found within Kosovo cannot conduct post-mortem toxicological analyses due to the existing stigma associated with the problem of drug addiction. To some extent, the forensic institutes can conduct an autopsy only when the family members request so.
Depressed youth who use substances are more likely to engage in impulsive suicide conduct. Substance abuse is also an issue for schizophrenia-affected teenagers and young adults. A teenager with schizophrenia is more prone to suffer recurrent episodes of psychosis if they consume illicit substances. Such situations as psychosis are related to several car accidents and domestic violence that do occur due to the changes in the mood, behavior, and cognitive state of the drug abusers (Kelmendi et al.). Form of withdrawal does also result among the abusers where in this situation, they do not share their problem with anyone who seems to dislike them, and they would spend time with their fellow abusers.
Another side effect was that students who had ever used illegal drugs scored lower in all dimensions of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Likewise, teenagers who had ever taken illicit substances had low aggregate ratings when it came to their mental and physical health and a lower total HRQoL. There are few studies on HRQoL among university students. A six-year study of 1,253 college cohort students began in their first year and lasted six years (Gazibara et al.). Chronic abusers of narcotic substances had a retarded physical and mental health than the other six subgroups illustrating the frequency of use of marijuana in university students during this period. Adolescents who participate in hazardous behaviors have been found to have lower HRQoL than those who do not. In clarifying this conclusion, researchers hypothesized that characteristics including parental relationships might moderate the link between illegal drug use and poor HRQoL. According to Zupančič et al., adolescents who engaged in hazardous activities were unlikely to get along with their guardians and parents.
In Kosovo, apart from health consequences, most teenagers who get addicted to these acts drop out of school, and those schoolings engage in constant violence. Individuals who are addicted are always under the influence of these drugs; whatever they do is not out of their sane judgment. The illicit substance abusers frequently engage in violent activities (Kelmendi et al.). Some illegal drug abusers would not find it comfortable in school; therefore, most of the time, they will consider discontinuing their learning to be on the streets. The school dropout scenario among the teenagers in both rural and town dwellers has spiked because of the drug abuse.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Kosovo teenagers are at a high risk of abusing narcotic substances for several reasons that have become hard to contain. One of the primary reasons is that Kosovo falls on the routes where most narcotic drugs are trafficked; this has led to the high rate of smuggling of the illicit drugs, which later get into the possession of the teenagers of Kosovo. Because these teenagers can obtain these substances cheaply without any struggle, most of them abuse the narcotic substances, which leads to addiction when this action becomes a habit. The smuggling and abuse of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana have led to several health problems among teenagers. The most serious of these problems is the high risk of contact with HIV and Aids and other sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia. Drug abuse has led to an increased rate of violence and school dropout due to the instability of the mental state of the abusers.
Works Cited
Azemi, Ferid. National Strategy against Narcotics, Drug Control Policy, and Law Enforcement Experiences in Kosovo. Diss. Walden University, 2019. Web.
Gazibara, Tatjana, et al. “Illicit Drug Use and Academia in North Kosovo: Prevalence, Patterns, Predictors and Health-Related Quality of Life.”Plos One, vol. 13, no. 7, 2018, Web.
Kelmendi, Kaltrina, et al. “Coexistence of Intimate Partner Violence and Child Maltreatment among Adolescents in Kosovo.”Journal of Family Violence, vol. 34, no. 5, 2019, pp. 411–421., Web.
Ziberi, Besime, and Merita Avdiu. “Econometric Analysis to Examine the Relationship between Unemployment and Macroeconomics Aggregates. Evidence from Kosovo.” Academic Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2020, pp. 33-41. Web.
Zupančič et al., Limits to the European Union’s normative power in a post-conflict society: EULEX and peacebuilding in Kosovo. Springer Nature, 2018.