Effect of drug abuse among the female youths in northwest, Nigeria

Abstract

The social problem of drug abuse among female youths is becoming rampant and recognized although it is not reflected in most official drug statistics. Its increasing rate has created concern for parents, policy makers, law enforcement agencies and researchers. Northwest of Nigeria is witnessing an upsurge in drug abuse among the female youths. The consequences of this menace have become alarming, hence, the study aims at examine the effect of drug abuse among female youths in Northern Nigeria. The study adopted exploratory and cross-sectional in research design. The questionnaire and in-depth interview methods were used to elicit data from respondents. The paper applied multistage sampling technique method in which two states will be randomly selected among geo-political zones of Northern Nigeria. Two towns were selected which are Kano and Kaduna, 600 respondents were surveyed .The theory of social learning was adopted as theoretical underpin. Findings revealed that the peer group influence, unemployment, frustration, etc are some of the reasons for engaging in drug abuse among female youths. Also it was revealed that codeine, tobacco, marijuana are among the drugs being abused. The study recommends, among others that the government, parents and religious organization should take responsibility to curtail female youths from menace of drug abuse.