Drug abuse is considered a serious social problem, especially among youth. Those who successfully survive such behaviors, especially in high-risk locations, must have underlying factors worth learning. This research focuses on youth who can avoid using and abusing drugs in high-risk areas. The main objectives are to identify protective factors (PF) that successfully protect youth in high-risk locations and to examine the presence of risk factors (RF) in that particular community. Data were collected through ten focus group discussions (FGD) with youth participants who lived within identified hot spot high-risk areas of drug abuse. Each group contains five participants, which makes up a total of fifty youth participants. The FGDs were audio-recorded, followed by the transcribing process and the thematic data analysis. The finding shows that themes for protective and risk factors are divided into internal and external factors. Internal protective factors are represented mostly by religious knowledge and practice, followed by self-assertiveness. External protective factors are denoted by positive family influences, positive peer influence, and knowledge of drug abuse. On the other hand, internal risk factors epitomize the feeling of curiosity, lack of religious knowledge and practice to release pressure and stress, lack of effective coping skills, and seeking fun. External risk factors embody negative peer influence, lack of parenting skills, negative family influence, and negative neighborhood environment and occupation.

Technology bring possibility to conduct focus groupdiscussion (FGD) virtually, especially during COVID-19. Online FGD conducted to explore needs assessment to design an effective drug prevention program among high-risk youth. 10 Online FGD within 5 participant for each group conducted involving youths from high-risk areas. Sessions recorded with the participants’ consent. Online FGD provides flexibility of time and venue, and widens the opportunity to gather more in-depth data. However, online FGD might cause the interactions less dynamic. Thus, it calls for future studies on the effectiveness of online focus group discussion as compared to the conventional face-to-face method.