CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION
This study focuses on the accessibility and motivational aspects that contribute to teenagers’ continued drug use. One of the causes behind the rise in drug usage in recent decades is the accessibility or availability of substances. When asked whether they had ever been offered, sold, or provided illicit substances on school grounds, 22% of students in grades 9 through 12 responded positively, according to a study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2007 Horvath et al (2019).
One of the main issues with young people is the ease of access to narcotics. Reasonably, the likelihood that someone may use drugs and get addicted to them increases when drugs are easily accessible. Therefore, the availability of medications is a problem that has to be addressed right once so that steps may be taken to reduce or eliminate any side effects. It seems that drug abuse, rather than just drug usage, is what causes issues. In other words, the prevalence of drug use has made it important to consider the effects of this process on social institutions and social charge in future generations in addition to focusing our attention on the dynamics of drug use and its drivers.
According to Laver (2019), drug abuse is simply the incorrect use of substances to the point that the effects are harmful to the person or society as a whole. The World Health Organization (WHO (2006) further defined drug abuse as a “state” of recurrent or chronic intoxication caused by drug use, which is harmful to both the person and society (natural or synthetic).
Drug abuse patterns include all facet of young people’s substance use, including quantity, frequency, kind of drug used, who they use them with, where they use them, when they use them, and other factors. Because of the factors involved in their analysis, the analysis of contemporary social problems has repeatedly shown to be more and more contentious, with the prevalence of drug abuse being of the utmost concern to the abuser himself, his family, the government, and the entire society in which he lives.
The administration seems to have suffered a great deal of humiliation as a result of this incident, particularly the harm done to Nigerians’ reputation overseas. It is apparent that Nigerians flying to the United States of America and, in fact, the whole continent of Europe, are subjected to more extensive and humiliating inspections by customs officers. According to them, the reason for this form of demeaning and humiliating interrogation of Nigerians is that they want to clamp down on smugglers, of whom Nigerians are the main suspects because of the aggressive drug trafficking posture shown by certain selfish Nigerians.
Furthermore, Nigerian societies have designated some drugs as acceptable while designating others as not acceptable without taking into account how the drugs affect the users’ physical and mental health. For instance, society views alcohol and nicotine use as acceptable, so those who use them do so openly in public without worrying about being arrested or receiving negative social stigma.
To the society as a whole, drug misuse is a factor in crime, promiscuity, armed robberies, and other vices. Since ancient times, people have used the naturally occurring chemical that alters consciousness. Man has attempted for ages to either laud some lovelythe use of fermented alcohol and other plant products as aspects of life or a means of escaping the misery of life, whether real or imagined (Vanguard, 2016).
Youth drug usage and substance misuse is a growing problem that has sparked public concern. There are several social and economic elements that might contribute to this. The majority of drug and substance abusers are discovered to be young people. Additionally, there is virtually little chance that drug-using adolescents will get special care. It is highly possible that there are thousands of individuals who are addicted to the narcotics moving through Nigeria, which has an estimated total population of 200 million (NBS. 2018), who are not getting any kind of therapy.
There isn’t much information available on the number of drug users in Nigeria. Only 925 individuals got treatment, according to a United Nations study from 2004—the most current data available. Nearly 90% of these drug users in drug treatment programs received assistance for their cannabis addiction (Narconon, 2018). The availability of drugs in the adolescent’s neighborhood, town, and school as well as whether or not their friends are using them are just a few of the many variables that affect whether they try drugs (NIDA, 2014).Although it is recognized that the adolescent years are a crucial window of susceptibility to drug use disorders because the brain is still growing and flexible (a quality known as neuroplasticity), and certain brain regions are less developed than others,
than others, more mature. The earliest areas of the brain to develop throughout infancy are those that handle sensations of reward and pain, which are important factors in drug addiction (NIDA, 2014). From the teenage years, there is a progression to the adolescent stage, where adolescents prefer an autonomous and independent life that is unrestrained by adults and engage in a variety of delinquent acts (drug abuse, rape, robbery, cultism, and vandalism) that are hazardous to the family, neighborhood, school, and country. Description of the issue
In the modern day, drug misuse in Nigeria has developed into a problem that casts a dismal shadow over the whole Nigerian society, particularly among youth. Under the military dictatorship, drug trafficking in Nigeria reached its peak in 1985. Under the “Special Tribunal (Miscellaneous Offences) Degree No. 20 of 1984,” it was mostly young people who were apprehended and the first to be put to death for drug offenses at this time. However, since a foreign phenomena is distorting its importance, drug usage is not only a problem among young people.
However, drug use—by either youths or other members of the greater society—appears to be a societal issue in all of its manifestations. This issue is widespread and has an impact on everyone. In other words, the widespread use and misuse of drugs attracts individuals from all walks of life. In addition to the human suffering brought on by drug addiction, traditional values and ways of life are also harmed. Research has also proven that drug usage damages society as a whole by destroying individuals, destroying families, and increasing crime and anarchy.
Drug use also seems to hinder young people’s capacity for learning. Additionally, it seems that drugs go against our beliefs of physical health. Drug usage is prevalent because it seems like it would provide happiness. However, since contentment is often elusive, people tend to drink more and larger amounts, which leads to eventual physical and mental decline. The drug user also has social interaction issues, which he experiences both with his immediate family and outside of them. As a result, tension is usually generated in the drug user’s family (Hoffman, 1990).
Additionally, drug misuse may lead to a variety of social issues, such as being late for class, failing to take care of one’s family, acting out, getting into trouble, etc (Earl 2000). The more money needed to address the negative consequences of drug usage, the less money is available for services and programs that improve quality of life (Earl 2000).
The fact that our security organizations, including the police force and national drug law enforcement agencies, among others, have not done enough to combat this epidemic is one of the elements working against the elimination of drug usage among our youth. The issue of corruption among the personnel and officials of these aforementioned institutions also works against the goal of ending drug consumption among young people and college students.
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