Prevalence And Determinants Of Drug Abuse Among Youths In A Rural Community In North Western Nigeria

Drug abuse is a global public health problem that impacts negatively on health, family, society, educational and professional life. Majority of youths ignorantly depend on one form of substance or the other for various daily activities such as social, educational, political and moral. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of drug abuse among youths in a rural agrarian community in North Western Nigeria. A cross-sectional, community baseddescriptive study conducted among 359 rural youths aged 15-35 years. The study was conducted from 19th September 2016 to 14th October 2016.An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data which was analyzed using SPSS (version 20). The prevalence of drug abuse was 10% and the most abused drug was Tramadol (52.8%). There was a statistically significant association between drug abuse and the following variables: Type of family (P=0.025); occupation of respondents (P=0.001) and monthly income (P= 0.005). Farming occupation was a determinant of drug abuse. Farmers were 6.52 times more likely to abuse drugs than non-farmers (OR= 6.52, 95% C.I: 2.25 – 18.91,P=0.001). The result indicated that youth in the study area abuse drugs such Tramadol and Marijuana and farming occupation was a determinant of drug abuse. For effective control of drug abuse in the study area, there is need for health education campaigns on harmful effects of drug abuse.Key words: Drug abuse, prevalence, determinants, youth, rural, Nigeri