Occurrence, Pattern and Effects of Nonconventional Use of Substances among Youth in North-Central, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Background: use of substances among Nigerian youth for nonconventional purpose and cocktails of illicit substances have become a source of concern at various levels of the society. These substances include whitish end of lizard dung, hydrogen sulphide gas (sewer gas), seed of Zakami, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), rubber solutions, nail polish cleaners, pawpaw leave and seed, Moringa (Zogale) leave, tear gas, gun powder, Mandara (Kafra) gutter from toilet. The use or abuse of such substances has devastating consequences on the individual health, family and society. Objective: To evaluate occurrence, pattern and effects of nonconventional substance use among youth in North-central, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to recruit eligible participants for this study with purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Data were collected with the help of research assistants (locators) using a structured questionnaire. Statistical software SPSS V20.0 (2010) was used to analyze both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The results of the study reveal that most of the nonconventional substance users were young unmarried male students of tertiary institutions with a mean age of 23 ± 4 years. Most of them were living with both parents and from monogamy family background. Additionally, a good number of the participants were into daily usage of these substances, were into either smoking or drinking of alcohol before they went into the use of these other substances. They have been into nonconventional substance use for past five years or more. The use of whitish end of Lizard dung, Moringa (Zogale) leave, Seed of Zakami, pawpaw leave, rubber solutions, premium motor spirit (PMS) and hydrogen sulfide gas (Gas from pit toilet) are the most used substances. Reasons for nonconventional substance abuse include peer pressure/influence, societal influence, poor parental monitoring and for relaxation or coping with stress. The effects include accidents, loss and damage to property, had unprotected sex, hospitalization and sudden difficulty in breathing. Participants' age and level of education correlate significantly with occurrence of nonconventional substance use/abuse. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that youths aged between 18 and 30 years were into nonconventional substance use/abuse. This result reinforces the importance of calling for more strategies to curtail the new trends in the use of nonconventional substances among youth and improvement on the available legislation on drugs and substances laws Background Fundamentally, use of substance is a social act, common human behaviour Use of different mood-changing substances has been reported to be prevalent among Nigerian youth. Studies Lately, non-medical consumption of cough syrups in Northern Nigeria has become a subject of public concern, World Journal of Preventive Medicine 13 largely due to its potential danger to the society. Abuse of substances, licit or illicit, is so prevalent in our present societal context that we might as well ask, why some adolescents abstain from substance use, rather than why most do not Nonconventional substance use among Nigerian youth has become alarming at different levels of the society. Globally, it has been estimated that 90% of population aged 12 years or older are classified with dependency on psychoactive substances According to UNODC reports [9] on the use of illicit substances, there was an increase usage rate throughout the world in recent years. Similarly, the World Health Organization Ifabumuyi A comparative study by Festus [14] on the patterns of substance used in two selected Nigerian cities among prison inmates in Uyo and Kiru revealed that, participants highlights various reasons for using alcohol and other psychoactive substances. Those seen as, (easy to get) readily availabile alone accounts for more than 25% of the reasons in both cities, while influence from others, enhanced performance, unemployment and unidentified reasons were responsible for 24%, 22%, 18% and 10% respectively. The study further established that alcohol was the commonly used substance in Uyo while, inhalants such as glue, petrol, formalin and shoe polish were the substances consumed in large quantities at Kiru. Prevalence and patterns of substance used are strongly related to a range of factors, including age and sex, and these patterns vary for different types of drugs The use of nonconventional substances such as whitish end of lizard dung, hydrogen sulphide gas (sewer gas), seed of Zakami In developing countries, urbanization and globalization were reported to have significantly influenced on the pattern of substances usage In spite of several efforts put in place to curtail the menace of substance usage, peer influence has been a major factor connected with adolescent substance use [29,30,31], delinquency [32] and sexual behaviours, family conflict, poor parental monitoring, parental substance use and academic problems Despite the dangerous trend in view of the associated health hazards arising from widespread use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances, recent development in Nigeria has shown that the increasing incidence of youth restiveness and social vices may have been influenced by the use of substances Use of substances such as khat leaves has been associated with physical illness, injuries, under nutrition, mental distress, sleep disorders, problem drinking and heavy smoking Objective of the Study Youths play an important role in the growth and progress of any society and no nation could move up the ladder of development without involving its youth in the decision-making processes. However, the epidemic of nonconventional use of substance among the youth is on the increase. Therefore, this study sought to evaluate the occurrence, pattern and effects of nonconventional use of substances among youth in North-central, Nigeria In addition to the strategic locations, Bida town has more than three tertiary institutions, public and private secondary and primary schools. Bida is not only occupied by northerners, it is also a town with vast tribes from other regions of the country like Gbagyis, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Igala, Urhobo, Calabar and other tribes inclusive [41, Methods Study Setting Study Design A cross-sectional research design was used to recruit eligible participants for this study. Study Population The target participants for this study were all the substance users/abusers within Bida town, Bida Local Government Area between October -December 2015. Data Collection Tools Structured questionnaire developed by the authors from review of relevant literature was used to collect data from the participants who consented to participate in the study. The participants were located and the questionnaires were administered to them at their "joints" by the two trained research assistants. The literate participants filled the questionnaire themselves and those who are non-literates were structurally interview using the same questionnaire to elicit the same responses from the participants. Sampling Technique Bida was purposively selected for this study because of the rapid popularization of the town and observed cases of substance use/abuse among the population. Participants were recruited with the use of snowball sampling technique. This sampling technique allowed the investigators to hand-pick, recruit and train the first cases (locators) or population considered to be typical or possess the desired set of information or characteristics for inclusion in the study Data Analysis and Management The statistical software SPSS V20.0 (2010) was used to analyze the data. Categorical data were expressed as proportions and percentages while continuous variables were expressed as mean± standard deviation. Association between categorical variables was expressed using Chi square (χ2), degree of freedom and test of statistical significance (p-value) was set at p=0.05