Substance abuse in Sagamu Local Government of Ogun State

Abstract

Background: The increasing drug abuse globally has brought problems of increased violent crimes, transmittable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B viruses and tuberculosis.
Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess substance abuse in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State.
Material and Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria. A convenient sample size of 300 respondents (15-50 ± SD years) who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria was used for this study. Self-administered questionnaire were used to collect relevant information from the consented respondents. SPSS was used for data analysis while statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05.
Results: Male to female ratio was 1.49:1.51 (p=0.944). While the singles (36.3%) were in the majority, the single parents were 30.3% and the separated were 22.7%. Of the studied population, 40.7% had secondary education while 71.7% were  unemployed. Majority (94.3%) understood which drugs are considered illicit and 76% were involved in illicit drug use of which 49.3% used it for calmness and sleep. Coffee was reported as the most consumed psychoactive drug used by them and their parents (52.7 and 64.3% respectively). Marital problems (46.0%) is a key predisposing factor to the use of illicit drugs while peer influence (42.0%) lured these people into the act.
Conclusions: High prevalence of substance abuse among these respondents depicts weakness on the part of regulatory authorities. The commonly abused drugs were coffee and alcohol while the common initiator was peer pressure. Parents should strive to be role models rather than being drunken menace.

Keywords: Substance abuse, Parents drug use, Alcohol problems, Ogun state