Drug and substance abuse among the youth is a global phenomenon that has attracted international attention. Many studies have been carried out mainly concentrating strategies of curbing the abuse. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between student peer pressure and drug abuse in public secondary schools in Kahuro Sub-county, Kenya. The study adopted ex-post facto research design. The target population of the study was 11536 students, 36 teachers (heads of guidance and counseling) and 33 principals. Four hundred and thirty two students, thirty six head of departments (HoD) (Guidance and counseling) and 33 principals were sampled from the population as respondents in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Person product moment Correlation Coefficient was used to test for the hypothesis. The findings of the study indicated by the frequency of drug use and consistency in drug use was positively correlated to peer pressure implying that increase in peer pressure leads to increase in drug abuse. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that peer counseling in schools be strengthened, drug prevention policy in schools be made more participatory and students should be involved in formulating the policies involving drugs and prevention.

Keywords: Drug abuse, intervention, substance abuse, adolescent and drug trafficking.