Prevalence and Causes of Drug Abuse among Youth-Recipients of School-Based Drug Education Programs: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of school-based drug education programs on drug use behavior through examining the prevalence and causes of drug abuse and addiction among youth-recipients (16-30 years) of drug education (DE) programs in Nigeria. A concurrent embedded mixed-method design was adopted for the study and data were collected with a questionnaire and an interview schedule on drug use behaviors. Results showed that drug abuse prevalence ranged from 3.8% for cocaine to 23.7% for alcohol, with daily addiction levels ranging from 1.3% to 5.0%. Depression, peer pressure, and social/economic hardships cause drug abuse. Drug education and gender influence drug use behavior. Drug abusers possess health, social, legal, and moral knowledges about drug use, with youth drug-abusers redefining responsible use by promoting the notion of “civilized use”. The study concluded that mainstream curricular drug prevention programs have little impact on drug use behavior since its recipients still abuse drugs. Drug education research, policy, and practice implications of the findings were discussed.