Factors Influencing Drug Use and Abuse among Undergraduate Students of a Tertiary Institution in Nigeria

OBJECTIVE Psychoactive drug use has been identified by World Health Organization (WHO) as a significant social and public health concern with increasing prevalence despite efforts to stem the tide globally. Many factors have been adduced to influence drug use among students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Determining some of these factors will help in formulating primary preventive strategies. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess factors influencing drug use among students of Ahmadu Bello Univeristy (Samaru Campus). METHODS The study was a descriptive cross sectional involving four hundred and forty (440) subjects, using multistage sampling techniques. All the subjects consented and participated in the study. Self administered socio demographic, WHO students drug use and factors influencing drug use questionnaires were given to the subjects to fill through their class representative. Data analysis was done by statistical package for social science (SPSS) 15th editions. RESULTS One hundred and fifty (150) respondents constituting 34.1 % were from faculty of Engineering, one hundred and fifteen (115) respondents constituting 26.1 % were from faculty of Education while one hundred and seventy five (175) respondents constituting about 39.8 % were from college of Medicine. All the 10 drugs examined by the questionnaire were used by male sex while their female counterpart used only alcohol and tobacco. The age of onset of tobacco use revealed that 23 (74.2 %) of 61 respondents commenced the use between 11 and 12years of age. The differences in age of onset of tobacco use was significant (df=5, X2 = 21.07, P = 0.001). Fifteen (52 %) of the thirty two cannabis users revealed that boldness to talk was the main reason why they use cannabis while 2 (20 %) use cannabis to satisfy Friends. The difference was significance (df = 4, X2 = 10.69, P = 0.03). Those of Christian faith has more subjects with alcohol usage than the respondents with Islam faith. The two Hindu believers were alcohol users. The difference was also, statistically significance (df = 2, X = 18.18, P = 0.00). None of the Hallucinogen users were from college of Medicine. Many subjects among those using Opoid revealed that its easy sourcing it and their friends were the source of the drug. School performance, behavioural and legal problems were also statistically significance with some the drugs examined. CONCLUSIONS Psychoactive drug use was found among students of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria like in other institutions of higher learning in Nigeria. Many factors were also found to have influenced the use of drugs among them. The need to formulate and implement policies to stem the tide is therefore imperative.