CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
To The Study
This research work is
on the effects of Drug Abuse among University undergraduates in Nigeria. It
appears that not only the use of drugs that create problems but rather their
misuse. In other words the widespread use of drugs has not only turned our attention
to the dynamics of drug use and its determinants but also made it necessary to
weigh the impact of this process on social institutions and social charge in
future generations.
Drug abuse according to
Laver (1978) simply means the improper use of drugs to the degree that the
consequences are defined as detrimental to the user and or the society. The
World Health Organization (WHO2006) also defined drug abuse as a intoxication,
detrimental to the individual and to the society, produced by the repeated consumption
of a drug (natural or synthetic).
Drug abuse patterns
include all aspect of drug usage by the youths ranging from how much, how often
and what sort of drugs, where who, with, what circumstances and so on. The
analysis of contemporary social problem has consistently proved more and more
controversial because of the variables involve in their
analysis, with the incidence of drug abuse, being of utmost concern to the
abuser himself, his family, the government and the entire society in which he
lives. This situation seems to have caused a lot of embarrassment to the
government including most especially the damage done to the image of Nigerian
abroad. It is obvious that custom officials in the United States of America and
indeed the entire Nations of Europe subject the people of Nigeria traveling to
their countries to a more thorough and embarrassing checks. This type of
degrading and humiliating examination of Nigerians according to them is because
they want to crack down on smugglers of which Nigerians are the chief suspects
due to the hard drug trafficking posture exhibited by some greedy Nigerians.
Furthermore, Nigerian
societies has defined some drugs as acceptable while others as not acceptable
without reference to their effects on mental and physical wellbeing of t the of
the users, for example, society considers the use of alcohol and nicotine as
acceptable, hence those of them who take these drugs do so freely in public
without fear of arrest or society stigma.
To the society as a
whole, crime, promiscuity, armed robbery and other vices are all linked to drug
abuse. Therefore this study is motivated by the controversy
that surrounds the effect of drug abuse among University undergraduates in
Nigeria.
1.2
Statement Of The Problem
Drug abuse in Nigeria
in the contemporary time has become one issue that cast a gloomy shadow to the
entire Nigerian society especially among University undergraduates. The height
of drug trafficking in Nigeria was witnessed in 1985 under the military regime.
During this period, it was mostly the University undergraduates that were
caught and the first
to be executed
for drug.
(Miscellaneous
Offences) Degree No. 20 of 1984. However, the abuse of drugs is not only
limited to the University undergraduates as alien phenomenon is to distort its
significance.
Nevertheless, the usage
of drug either by University undergraduates or other members of the larger
society in all its ramifications appears to be a social problem. This problem
is widely spread and it affect all and sundry. In other words, this wide spread
use and abuse entice people from all walks of life and beyond the human destruction
caused by drug dependence is the damage to traditional values and lifestyles.
Studies have also shown that drug abuse wrecks individual, shatter families and
weakens entire society with its burden of economic looses, health cost and
increased lawlessness and crime.
Also,
drugs seem to undermine the ability of University undergraduates to learn. Drug
also appears to contradict our values of physical wellbeing. People experiment
with drugs because they seem to hold the promise of fulfillment. But the
fulfillment is generally elusive, greater and greater quantities are consumed
and ultimately the person suffers both physical and psychological
deterioration. The drug abuser also experience problems of interaction and this
interactional problem is encountered both inside his immediate family and
stress invariably is created in the family situation of drug abuse (Hoffman,
1990).
To add to this, drug
abuse may entail a lot of social problems ranging from lateness to lectures,
family neglect, deviance behaviours, involvement in crime etc (Earl 2000). In
terms of economic cost, it includes the more money required to deal with the
undesirable effects of the drug abuse, the less money for services and
programmes that enhances the quality of life (Earl 2000).
One of the factors
militating against the eradication of drug abuse among our University
undergraduates is that our security agencies, such as the police force,
National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies among others have not done enough to
check this scourge. Another factor militating against the eradication of drug
abuse among Nigerian University undergraduates is the problem
of corruption among the men and officials of these fore mentioned agencies.
To this end and judging
from the problems outlined earlier, this research aims at ascertaining the
effect of drug abuse among University undergraduates in Nigeria using the
University of Calabar, Cross River State as a study area.
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complete materials (Chapter One to Chapter Five), visit www.researchshelf.com
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