Project Materials

DRUG ABUSE IN NIGERIA: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Over the last two decades, researchers have attempted to establish how drug usage originates and progresses. Since time immemorial, drug use has been linked to human existence. In the earliest societies, people believed that disease was caused by the gods’ anger, and sacrifices were performed to prevent or cure it.

As civilisation settled into scattered villages, they needed to maintain their surroundings clean. The emphasis on the gods as the cause of disease moved to the environment. They learnt that germs cause disease.

Essentially, medication was manufactured from roots, herbs, leaves, and other natural materials that were found or considered to have therapeutic characteristics.

The usage of these substances may be traced back to early history. The ancient Egyptians, for example, were highly competent at producing and administering medication to cure both exterior and internal infections.

The majority of the medications we use today originated in nature and are now manufactured synthetically under strictly regulated settings. They are evaluated and tested for standard and quality prior to being permitted for sale and use.

When a medicine is made, it is specifically designed for a certain sickness or condition of a specific person. Drug usage has been an issue among our secondary school kids.

It refers to the use of medicines for non-medical or non-scientific purposes that may cause harm to the person and the environment.

According to data, there has been an increase in the number of drugs abused by students in the locality and around the world. However, illicit drug use and misuse are increasing in all segments of the population, not only the young. It has also been found that the population engaging in drug abuse and use varies by socio economic background and educational level, with both liberate and illiterate individuals involved, and that secondary school students are the most involved in drug addiction, as are female students.

It is shocking and disheartening to learn that secondary school kids, who make up a sizable proportion of Edo State’s population, are disproportionately vulnerable to drug misuse. According to study, several pupils die each year as a result of drug misuse among this generation of teenagers.

The illegal drug trade is a multibillion-dollar sector that threatens to corrupt and destabilise many people’s economies. In addition, the involvement of primary and secondary school kids in the act increases the level of drug abuse. Furthermore, a drug is a chemical that impacts or modifies the operation of the body’s own chemistry.

In other words, it is any substance that, when ingested, modifies the body’s function or that, when used, affects the body and the mind.

This is accomplished via altering the user’s bodily function and/or conduct. Unfortunately, the majority of students disregard medical advice or direction in favour of drug use or abuse.

It is important to note that drug abuse is not limited to the abuse of dangerous drugs such as narcotics, opium, heroine, and so on, but also includes the abuse of cocaine, panadol, antibiotics, laxatives, kola nuts, alcohol, and so on. In other words, even food substances can be harmful or dangerous if not taken properly.

Drug abuse occurs when a drug is taken without a medical prescription or in excess of the prescribed dosage. For example, if an anxious mother notices that her child has stomach pain, she goes and buys antibiotic syrups and gives them to the child because such was prescribed for a friend’s child who has stomach pain and was very effective, we say that such person is guilty of drug abuse. The classification of drugs is as follows:

1. Stimulants include tobacco, cocaine, kola nuts, coffee, and cigarettes.

2. Hyporotic and sedative depressants, including alcohol and barbiturates.

3. Hallucinogens, including tetrahedral caunabina (cannabis).

4. Narcotics, include morphine, codeine, and heroin.

5. Anxiolytic/tranquilizers such as benzodiazepines, diazepam, also known as valium, etc. In order to limit or prevent drug usage among adolescents, the responsibility of teachers, parents, government officials, and guidance counsellors cannot be overstated.

1.2 Statement of the Problems

Drug abuse has consistently remained a major concern and focus of various teachers, parents, government officials, and guidance counsellors, who have attempted to prevent or reduce the menace of drug abuse among youths or secondary school students through a variety of legislative policies over time.

Furthermore, drug addiction has been noted to be widespread among secondary school pupils at Oredo LGA in Edo State.