Drug abuse is the use of illegal drugs or the use of prescription or over-the-counter medications in ways other than recommended or intended. It also includes international inhalation of household or industrial chemicals for mind-altering effects.
Taking drugs without proper description can lead to the following; Brain damage, memory loss, attention difficulties and impaired judgment, Cardiac arrest, Psychological changes, including aggression, paranoia, depression and hallucinations, Stupor or coma, Cardiovascular disease, Stroke, Cancer, Malnutrition and so on.
In the educational sector, most students believe without the excessive use of drugs, they cannot function well. By so doing, they tend to use drugs excessively. This is a very wrong impression because doing this continuously will have a negative effect on such individual and this will definitely lead to them being a drug addict. Being a drug addict, an individual will be unable to stop the intake of harmful substances and illegal drugs.
Basically, hard drugs like Cocaine, Heroine, Cannabis, Tobacco and the likes are misused. Some overdoses on Pain relievers such as Paracetamol, Panadol, Pain killers, Cough Syrup and so on are also misused. The dependency on individuals on such drugs has caused an inevitable damage to the educational system of the country.
In an interview with few students, it has been discovered that in all Nigerian Universities, College of Education, Polytechnics, and other Institutions of learning, out of 100% of students, more than 40% of students are drug addicts.
Socially, drug misuse or abuse is on rampage in Nigeria. Youths of nowadays finds it easy to get access to this drugs. From investigations done, it was discovered that most local clinics and pharmacy sell hard drugs and over active pain killers all around. This has resulted to the dependency of youths on these drugs to function. Most of the youths are under the influence of drugs all the time without the understanding of what is going on in the real world.
There are various reasons why people use drugs excessively, some of which are: Negligence; Parental negligence, ethical negligence and also societal negligence, Inferiority complex, Peer pressure, Unemployment and laziness(lackadaisical attitude)
Finally, there are ways to curb the excessive use of drugs and its abuse. The following are some of the opinions to take note: Provision of job opportunities to the ununemployed, Parents should adequately supervise their children/wards whenever they make use of any drug.
Organizing a symposium or creating enlightenment on drug abuse: the effect, risk, causes and prevention, Proper communication technique is necessary between the person prescribing the drug and the person who will make use of the drug and also avoid excessive use of drug, that is, the doctor’s prescription must be followed.
Written by:
AKANDE ESTHER OLUWAKEMI Matric number: LIN/2017/0023 A Student Of Linguistics And Communication studies, Osun State University, Ikire Campus.
