Illicit drug use is a relevant public health issue in Thailand. The assessment of the prevalence of illicit
drug use among adolescents may guide policies and programmes aimed at reducing illicit drug use among this age
group. Using data from the Thailand Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 2008, the researchers
assessed the prevalence of illicit drug and its associated factors among adolescents (N=2758). Overall, the prevalence
of lifetime illicit drug use was 6.0% (11.1% males and 1.3% females). Variables positively associated with the
outcome in multivariable analysis were male gender (Odds Ratio (OR)=3.70; 95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 1.89-
10.98), current smoking (OR=4.95, CI=2.20-11.14), current alcohol use (OR=6.33, CI=2.75-14.59) and multiple
sexual partners (OR=5.19, CI=2.40-11.24). Efforts to prevent and control illicit drug use may need to address a
cluster of risk behaviours including cigarette smoking, alcohol use and sexual risk behaviour.