The rate at which youths deviate from the norms and values guiding a particular social setting in which they belong has become worrisome. It has attracted attention of scholars and other stakeholders because of its negative implications on youth development specifically and national development in general. Particularly, the current adoption of drug abuse among youths has adversely affected their behaviour and social relationship with other individual members of the society. This has led to deviant behaviours such as absenteeism, cultism, robbery, thuggery, hooliganism, truancy, high risky sexual behaviour amongst others.
Saddeningly, the upsurge in the involvement of drug abuse among secondary school students has become an anathema. Some of them engage in drug abuse such as marijuana, alcohol, cigarette, caffeine, amphetamines, inhalants e.t.c. All these tend to adversely affect their academic prowess as well as hinder their social development generally.
➡ What To Do To Control and Prevent Drug abuse:
◼ Parents should give a healthy pattern of behaviour for their children to follow and start early by abstaining from self-medication, taking alcohol and cigarettes in the presence of their children.
◼ Drug education programmes should be featured in schools at all levels of education so that students will be trained to discipline themselves with issues related to drug abuse. They will also be able to transfer the information obtained on drug education to other colleagues.
◼ Intensive public enlightenment programmes on televisions, radio, social media and newspaper about drug abuse should be given enough priority. It will go a long way to enlighten students and community members on the right place and procedures for procuring drugs that can promote healthy living and thereby promote longevity.
◼ Government need to pay good attention to sponsoring drug education and intervention programmes and provide necessary textbooks and materials related to drug education at all level of education. They should also declare written and rigid rules and regulations guiding the selling of drugs and corresponding terms attracted to breaching the rules.
◼ Government's investment in policy and programmatic areas affecting youth, including youth employment and educational initiatives will make more resources and options available to them, to lessen the pressures and other problems that might lead them to drug abuse and engaging in related anti-social behaviour.
Reference
▪ Obot, I. (2005). Substance use among students and out of school youth in an urban area in Nigeria.
▪ Eneh, A.U. and Stanley, P.C. (2004). Substance Abuse among public secondary school students in River State. Nigeria Journal of Medicine, 13 (1): 36-39.