Abstract

The study aim to understand the Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness of Drugs on the Youths of the Buea Municipality. Using secondary, primary and tertiary sources of data collection.The sampling of respondent involves both male and females. The respondents are comprised of youths in molyko.

The target population of this study comprises 50 of university students. The Sample size of the study comprises of 50 youths so as to better understand the abuse of drugs by youths. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that students takes drugs to calm down frustration, and to reduce stress, build up self-esteem and for relaxation period to social events also the study concluded that  drug abuse has many effect on students’ behaviour as it affect them academically and health wise.

However the study further recommends among other that Parent and guidance should try to monitor their children so as to notice when they start taken drugs. Government should make necessary policies that will help to reduce the use and misuse of drugs among youths. Lecturers should also help in noticing the behaviour of students in class and create an avenue to enlighten the students on dangers of drugs to their health.

                                                          Chapter one

                                                     General introduction

Background of the study

The effect of drugs has become an endemic in our society to the extent that students in the Buea Municipality have also indulged themselves in drugs abuse because of peer group influence and also imitation of parents who are themselves drug addicts or ex-addicts. Students become stubborn and also abuse their parents. They become annually and recalatiant as they grow in the society. This has been in existence immemorial. Drug abuse ranges from taking of hard drugs to alcohol. Many people make use of drugs, hence proliferation of drug abuse in its ramification. Drugs are very important to human beings because they perform certain functions during medical treatment, these substances relieves inner feeling and anxiety or tension of the mind and body. The use of drug has created complex problems to as many people have abused the drug. This problem is alarming. The effect of drug abuse ranges from one region to another and from one country to another according to hospital records. In Buea, the establishment of many breweries and pharmaceutical; firms has caused upsurge increase in the production of alcohol and drugs. People abuse drugs to get away from their personal problems, their responsibilities and the stress of everyday life.

Besides, there are classifications of drugs for different motives. The medical drugs are for pain relief: antibiotics and curative types. The social drugs are used for social and religious purposes while non-medical drugs are neither medical nor socio-cultural.

We can summanlyclassify these drugs as follows;

• Narcotics
• Cannabis
• Hallucinogens
• Barbiturates
• Sadatives
• Heroine
• Over the country drugs (DTC)

From the above classification, many people over the world engage themselves in the act of swallowing, smoking and chewing which gave rise to the world drug abuse explosion. The huge sum of money realized from that leads to proliferation or effects of drugs. In addition, those who are engaged in drug business sometimes become millionaires overnight. As a result other people try to join the bad group of drug dealers by carrying and supplying harmful drugs to the society. A great deal of abuse of drugs could result in an ignorance fro they do not know all drugs are poisonous when abused and this may cause harm to the mental health of the individual or abuser or cause his or her life. Scarcity of doctors and pharmacists and he uncontrolled manner in which drugs are sold to the public, in our markets and pharmacies also contribute to this problem. Drugs can also be abused by children through imitation of older people in the home. If drugs are sold in homes, the family cycle can influence many negative aspects encountered by their children outside.

Parents, guidance and teachers as character moulders have a major, role to play in the general upbringing of the child.

When parents, Guardians and teachers discover that a child is with drug or has started dealing with drugs, it is their responsibility to check and caution the child immediately.

Furthermore, according to the united nation office on drugs and crime (UNODC) report in 2005, about 200 million people or 5% of the world’s population age between 15 and 65years of age have used drugs at least once in the last 12months. Likewise according to World Drug reported in 2005; the use of illicit drugs in all Nations has increased in recent years. The report goes to note that the increasing availability of a variety of drugs to an ever widening socio-economic sepcrum of consumers is disconcerting, although the main problem at the global level continues to be opiates (notable Hervine) followed by cocaine. For most of Europe and Asia opintes accounted for 62% of all drugs treatment sought in while 3.3 to 4.1% of the global population admits to consuming drugs. The most worries trends for the UNODC executive directors is high rate in which younger people get addicted or he ages at which people are becoming addicted.

In Pakistan (2002) for example the percentage of people taking drugs has double to 24% and the ages involved are 15-20 years.

A survey in Czech Republic in 2004 showed that 37% of new drug users were teenagers between 15 and 19years old.

In Egypt (2003) drug abuse particularly heroin use is becoming a serious problem and nearly 6% of secondary and tertiary school students admit to having experimented with drugs. The students in Cameroon, Buea to be precise like many other countries of the world are developing addiction psychoactive substances. In 2012, the national Drug Enforcement Agency (Ndlea) collected drug use abuse data from schools, records of patients admitted at mental health institutions for drug related problems and interviews of person’s arrested for drug offences. The result showed youths and students constitute the high risk group for group for drug trafficking and abuse. Friends and school mates constitutes or accounts for about90% of the sources of influence of use and abuse of various psycho active substances. In Buea, cigarettes and alcohol are legal but these substances are said to be “gate-way drugs” to other more potent drugs like Heroine and weed. Drug abuse/addiction has gone a long way to create several health problems and dangers in our society. Such health problem s include; mental illness, cancer of the lungs, school drop-outs and juvenile delinquency.

In Buea municipality, consumption of drugs in most areas is very common, students take these drugs to give the; cannot ordinarily do without the use of so many of these drugs.

The timid types purposely take drugs especially during social gathering to enable the; feel on top. Odeside (2004) observed that the reasons advance by the students for taking drugs are to feel  on top like adults.

Statement of the Problem

Through discussion, interviews, write up and research findings, it has been a known fact that there has been a world explosion of drug addiction for more than a decade. However in Buea, drugs are freely available and therefore open to abuse. Abuse of drugs has become a habit that seems to have eaten deeply into the fabric of students and children in schools. No day passes without references to these problems of drug abuse in the press, radio and television.

Today, people use drugs for a number of reasons which includes modification in the case of pelvic or to receive tension boredom and anxiety. Some simply use drugs out of curiosity and to open their mind to a new sensation. Others equally use drugs to control appetite and relaxation. It is evident that drug use and abuse is a major problem in Buea Municipality. Despite measures taken to curb it. Drug abuse menact has destroyed youthful population both secondary and university students and non-students reducing them to dummies and has caused them to washing their lives at the age which they are most needed in the society. (Ngesuet al 2008). Although the youths have been educated on dangers of drug abuse. Most students have little or no knowledge on the dangers of the vice (Ngesuet al 2008)

Although students are expected to be aware of the dangers of drug abuse and commit themselves their studies, the habit still exists. Drug and substances abuse lead to many problems in schools especially strikes to school, mock especially in the second term or semester of the academic calendar. Some of the known incidents include the University of Buea Students who carried out strikes because they never received their presidential grant despite meriting it. It is possible that students who abuse drugs while in school play a big role in influencing acts like strikes as they are under the influence of drugs.

Although preventive measure have been suggested by several researchers, the researchers have not yet effectively led to the desire results of curbing the menace of drugs abuse and psychoactive substance abuse in Buea. This is because a part from the youth facing a lot of challenger.

As individuals, the family and society including the church and school have not come out wholly to initiate mentions of helping the young stars. There is always a conflict of interest on who has the upper hand in helping the youth. It was against this background that this study investigated the effects of drugs abuse on student’s academic performance in the Buea municipality.

Definition of terms

The operational definition for this study include;

• Dose; A specific quantity of medication to be administered at one time.
• Medicine; Medicine that can be obtained without doctor’s prescription.
• Pharmacist; One skilled in pharmacy work. Also called a druggist or a pharmaceutical chemist.
• Dependence; Dependence is a static, psychic and sometimes also physical resulting in the interaction between a living organism and a drug characterized by behavioral and other respect which will always include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effect and sometimes avoid discomfort of its absence.
• Prevalence; commonly seen or done everywhere, effects or experiences to feel good, to get excited, be like friends and to be like stars.

The addition of these drugs caused by its abuse amongst these students gradually progress to affect their academic performance and cause a lot of evil happenings in the society and in the school campus too such as incessant occurrence of road accidents as a result of the intake of psychoactive substances taken by students before driving or crossing the road, some students indulge themselves into exam malpractices while others breakdown during examinations leading to failure and eventually drop-out, some become rude and arrogant to lecturers and parents. Occasionally causing riots and chaos on campus while some grow to become animals in the society leading them to prison. However, the main objective addition on the academic performances of students in the Buea municipality. Consequently, the study shall make some recommendations that will improve the academic performances of the student in the study area.

Objectives of the study

The study was guided by following objectives.

1. To establish the extent to which parents source of income influence the prevalence of drugs and substance abuse among students in the Buea municipality.
2. To determine how different location influence the prevalence of drugs and substance abuse among students in the Buea municipality.
3. To establish the extent to which administration influences the prevalence of drugs and substance abuse among students in the Buea municipality.
4. To establish how peer pressure influence drugs and substance abuse can be minimized.

Research Question

These questions are proposed to appraise problems encountered in the effects of drugs abuse on the academic performance into examine the possible success in reducing the incidence of drugs abuse in the society.

1. Which group of students use of drugs in the Buea Municipality
2. Why do they indulge in the use of drugs
3. What types of drugs abuse on the students?
4. What is the effect of drugs abuse on the students?
5. Which of these drugs have come in contact with?

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