THE USE OF SPATIAL STATISTICS TO EXPLORE SPATIAL PATTERN AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRUG ADDICT AND SOCIO-ECONOMY

摘要

Drug addiction is one of the major problems in many countries in the world. People become addicted to drug due to a number of reasons including emotional problems, poverty; influence by friends, stress and many more. However, these factors alone do not clearly show the phenomenon of the problem. It is subjective without describing the relationship between the contributing factors and the existence of the phenomenon. This research aims to determine the spatial pattern of the drug addicts and also to investigate the spatial correlation between their status and socio-economic influences by using spatial statistical analysis model together with Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. The area of study is Pontian district, in the state of Johor, Malaysia. The dependent variable of this study is the status of drug addicts (new addicts) while the independent variables are on the socio-economic side, the focus of which is on the education and employment levels. In order to gauge the relationship between these variables, a number of statistical analyses is carried out including the Mean Center, Standard Deviational Ellipse, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR). The results show that the distribution (pattern) of the new drug addict concentrates more in the urban and sub-urban areas. Furthermore, the correlation between the occurrences (arrests) of new drug addicts and their level of education and employment show a varying level of significance and also with different spatial distribution. The use of spatial statistics approach aided by GIS tools prove that the social problem such as drug abuse can be better explained and visualized in terms of the pattern of occurrences as well as the correlation between the contributing parameters. This certainly provides a useful assistance to the relevant authorities in their planning to more effectively combat such a very chronic problem