Quo Vadis Young! Stories of drug abuse in young people in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Introduction: The abuse of drugs is an important public health problem not only in Ecuador, but also worldwide. Objective: To interpret the perceptions of the drug-dependent person about the effects that the drug produces in their personal, family, social life, and their vision for the future. Methodology: Qualitative research with phenomenological interpretative analysis performed by semi-structured interviews in non-probabilistic sampling snowball type to 17 subjects with drug dependence in the period July-August 2018 in the city of Guayaquil. Results: The key informants were between 16 and 28 years of age, with low social stratum, from marginal urban areas, mostly incomplete secondary education, and with a history of first contact with the drug in early adolescence and in educational institution. Five categories were obtained: Family context, and the community environment as causal factors of consumption; social discrimination as punishment for the addicted person; guilt, loneliness and low self-esteem; the train of addiction to drugs destroys in its path: health and life; and family support and a Supreme Being as alternatives to get out of addiction. Conclusions: The causes of drug use were among others: the escape from dysfunctional family problems and adolescent vulnerability in their search for identity and belonging to a group. On the other hand, they reported feeling discriminated against and punished by society, and they foresee that a future of death, prison, sickness and indigence awaiting them.