CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to
the Study
The whole world is in trouble. The future
looks bleak and there is little hope for some generation with the rate at which
the age youths are getting involved in the illicit drug use, and since the
leadership of the future is in their hands it will not be an over statement to
say that the whole world is in trouble. There is hardly anyone in our society
who has not been couched in one way or the other by the escalation of drug
abuse within the society. The phenomenon has not spare any group of individual,
students inclusive. Adegoke (2003) asserted the above claim in his report that
drug abuse cut across the whole of the society. It is found among the affluent,
top professionals, high executives, musicians, students, sport men and women,
long distance truck drivers and housewives, all believing that it puts them in
good mood and increase their performance. From the olden days and up till now,
man has searched for plants and substance for curing all sort of illnesses, for
preventing diseases, getting the body in a state of readiness, for maintaining
good health and well being.
Drug is a chemical agent that is used
therapeutically to treat diseases. More broadly a drug is any chemical agent
that affects living protoplasm. Nelson, (2005). The term drug is usually used
in its narrower sense to refer to a chemical whose specific purpose is the
treatment of a disease. Merriam, (2014). Scientifically drug can also be
defined as any chemical solid, liquid or amorphous substance derived from
plants, animals or minerals resources which is applied externally or internally
to cause some desirable effects. Drug is a substance which by its chemical
nature has an effect to open the body of higher nervous system (the mind)¸ Ebie (2012) The effect of drugs
could be positive, that is , drug when
properly used or taken into a living organisms, produces the desire result, and may modify one or more
of its functional part , it is usually prescribed by a medical practitioner such
drugs or substance are either from vegetables animals or mineral origin. They
could be prepared for the human body that produces the desired result into the
treatment of diseases and ailment. The negative effect of drug is also referred
to as drug abuse. Drug abuse is therefore defined as the excessive consumption
of a drug by any individual drug abuse result when there is self injection of
the drug from the approved medical in a manner that deviates from the approved
medical usage (miles, 2013).Drugs are classified into different groups
according to their chemical characteristics, structure and how they are used to
treat specific diseases (medindia, 2015) Drug may be classified by the chemical
type of the active ingredient or by the way it is used to treat particular
condition examples includes cox-2 inhibitor diver tics etc. There are drugs
that are considered as painkilling antibiotics and curative drug. The
socio-cultural drugs are those used for social tradition and religious purpose
such as coffee, tea, tobacco, caffeine, kolanut, cigarettes and alcohol. The
non-medical drugs are those used for either medicinal or socio – cultural
purpose but which can be termed socially unacceptable drugs. These are
marijuana, cocaine, heroine, opine deliriants and others. It has been observed
however that most causes of drugs abuse occur when people use drugs for
non-medical reasons, Gikonyo, (2005). Excessive use of drugs and use of
unprescribed drugs by users is when an individual takes in drugs without
following the current prescription of the doctor. Drug can also be abused when
an individual engages in purchasing unprescribed drugs e.g. over the counter
drugs (OTC). The use of hard drug has also been on the increase, Abdool,
(2004). Hard drugs are capable of affecting the state of the body or mind by
either depressing or stimulating the central nervous system or producing other
biochemical harm to the society at large. According to Agwusike, (2007), drug
abuse is the use of drug above the prescribed dosage and for the purpose other
than for the original prescription. Adi, (2010) also defined drug abuse as self
treatment of physical ailment which could result from ignorance. The society of
doctors and pharmacists frowned at the uncontrollable ways and manner in which
the drugs are sold to the public in our markets, and medical stores which are
contributory factors to the drug abuse .Uncivilized and develop nations, drug
other than those common pain, cough and cold remedies are sold in doctor’s
prescription.
Behavioral, Cognitive Sensory Sciences and
Education(BCSSE,2004),stated that drug abuse could be viewed from different
perspective depending on the focus .It could be described as a non medical use
of drug which may cause harm to the individuals and the society’s cultural norm
of a society such as marijuana .People generally misuse or abuse drug because
the substances alter the mode behavior of an individual over the years, the use
of hard drugs like tobacco, sedatives ,Indian hemp, cocoa leaves ,alcohol
heroine, morphine ,cocaine to mention but a few have drastically been on the
increase especially in this part of the world(Africa),Adelekan,(2008).
Drug abuse has a negative impact on the
education of secondary school students. The overall health of the user is affected
negatively and behavior associated with drug abuse predispose the abuser to
crime and contagious diseases including HIV/AIDS(CDC 2009).Drug abuse appears
to be a well-entrenched behavior among secondary school students .In shopping
centres and other public spaces, students who have dropped out of school
because of drug abuse can be found loitering and participating in other form of
criminal activity,(Obot,2005).Given the
availability consequences and increasing use of drug in Nigeria, it is
important to establish student perceptions influence their behavior when it
comes to drug and drug users. It is against this background that the current
study was undertaken.
Most traditional drugs are always misused or
abused because of lack of dosage to determine the quantity required by the
users. The expiration period is never stated, substances that are today
referred to as drugs originated from the herbs and other natural chemicals,
caffeine, which is the main ingredient in ten or coffee and nicotine as in tobacco
or cigarette is widely used as mind stimulant and tension relieving drugs. They
are considered socially acceptable and used recreationally. However, they
produce dependence and also known to cause harm. Other drugs, although are used
medically for the treatment of one ailment or the other, may also cause
problems for the individual. Examples of such drugs are psychoactive drugs or
sedatives like valium and mogadon which are sleeping pills and pain killers
which are medically prescribed but may be abused thus causing dependence and
harm, (NACADA 2010).
Essen (2010)
observed that the increasing incidence of drug abuse among Secondary School
Students is a contributory factor in the ugly confrontation between school
administrators and students. The chronic use of these drug substances can cause
serious, sometimes irreversible damage to adolescent’s physical and psychological development (Falco, 2008). In another development, he further
emphasized that adolescent drug abuse is closely correlated
with other problems behaviors like delinquency, violence and early-unwanted
pregnancies. Drug abuse constitutes a major threat to the survival and
effective learning process of human societies. Lives are daily lost through
addiction and activities of addicts. A significant number of deaths from
accidents and violent crimes have been traced to the activities of persons
under the influence of drugs (Folawiyo, 2008). Treatment facilities nation-wide are now
gradually being over-burdened with drug related problems.
The social implications of drug abuse on the Nigerian youthful
population are catastrophic for the future. Notably, environment is known to
contribute a great deal to the cause of drug abuse especially in homes where
parents drink alcohol freely. In such homes’ there is a likely incidence of
alcoholism among the off springs of such parents. There are other reasons that
influence people to take drugs, they include peer group, physical illness,
psychiatric problems, etc. In response to this distress, quite a number of
Nigerians faced firing squad during Buhari/Idiagbon’s regime under Degree 20
(News watch), May 13, 1985). Thanks to Decree 48 of 1989, which makes for jail
term of (5) years for offenders. These problems have been of great concern not
only to parents and teachers but also to all those who are concern with the
proper upbringing of our children, hence the need to investigate into the
problem arose.
Statement
of the Problem
The knowledge and attitude of students towards learning and the
academic achievement in the Secondary School has attracted the attention of
many people who are concern with the educational standard of our students and
their achievement, Time without number both teachers and parents are
complaining bitterly about students involvement in drug abuse and their
attitude to learning. Inspite of all the efforts made by the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to reduce the problem of drug abuse that may affect
so many aspects of adolescent life the problem still persist particularly among
adolescent in Lagos state. As a teacher of secondary school students
who deal with adolescents who are vulnerable to these problems, I become
interested in carrying out the research on the knwolsge and attitude of junior secondary schools students towards drug
abuse with the hope of finding solutions to the
problem at hand.
Objectives
of the Study
The major objective of this study is to find out the knowledge and
attitude of junior secondary school student
of drug abuse effect in Odofin Local Government area of Lagos State.
The specific objectives of this study are as follows;
1.
To determine
the effects of drug abuse on students attitude to learning
2.
To find out
how students have the knowledge of drug abuse
3.
To determine
the relationship between students performance who take drugs and those who do
it
Research Questions
The following research questions serve as guide to the study;
1. What are the effects of drug abuse on
students attitude to learning?
2. How does students have the knowledge of drug
abuse ?
3. What are relationship between students
performance who take drugs and those who do it
Research
Hypotheses
Listed below are
the hypotheses that are raised and tested in the study, these are;
1. There is no significant difference between
the academic performance of those who
abuse drugs and those who do not.
2.
There
is no significant difference in the attitude to learning of those who abuse drugs
and those who do not.
Significance
of the Study
The study is
significant in the following ways;
This study will be relevant to teachers, school psychologists and school
counselors in handling the adjustment problems of students for instance in the
area of drug abuse involvement of their student, This can be achieved by
selling the information to the appropriate Ministry of Education so as to
include the subject of drug abuse and its influence on the attitude to learning
and academic achievement in their plan to train and re-train school teachers,
Counsellors and Psychologists for effective services in schools.
Policy makers, parents and NGOs will benefit from this study by way of
exposing the findings of this study through publication in educational
journals.
The researcher also intends to seek for the audience for the media to be
able to campaign against drug abuse. .
Scope
of the Study
This research
covers all schools in Amuwo Odofin
Local government area of Lagos State. Secondary school students of JSS II – III were
used for the study,. Both boys and girls among the students were involved in
the study. The study is also delimited to the variables on drug abuse, knowledge, attitude to learning and academic achievements of
students.
Operational Definition of Terms
Drugs: Drug
is any chemical substance that is derived from plants and animals or mineral
resources be it traditional or orthodox which is used for internal or external
application to the human body in the treatment of diseases or to induce clam,
reduce pains or modify the functions of the various system of the body.
Substance: Substance
are chemical combination of drugs in order words drug made up of combination of
chemical substance and substance can as well be refer to as those build up
charge like alcohol, tobacco, cigarette and kolanuts.
Drug use: Drug use is the
ingestion, injection or the application of any substances which when taken in
into the body of living organism may modify one or more of its function, this
includes not only medical also intended primarily active substance.
Drug misuse: Is the over -zealous
or indiscrete administration of drugs by using drug meant for certain purposes
for another purpose rather than what it is meant for.
Drug
addiction: Drug addiction is the dependence on a substance with
the presence of physical withdrawal symptoms.
Psychoactive drugs: This is defined as in
alternating drugs.
Habitualism: This is the dependence
on a substance without the presence of physical; withdrawal phenomena. Thus it
is the psychological desire to repeat the use of these drugs, continuously for
emotional reasons.
Dependence: It is a state of
psychological or physical need to both resulting from the interaction between
an organism and a substance resulting from continuously or periodic use which
is characterized by behavioural deviation.
Tolerance: Is defined as the
situate ion when the same amount of substance can no longer produce the effects
on an the individual and then needs
higher amount to produce the same effects.
Withdrawal: Is the situation when
unpleasant sensation such as shaking, seating tremors, frightening feelings and
some times hallucination and delusions occurs when the drug is stopped.
