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

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