ABSTRACT
This study investigatedthe knowledge and perception of drug use and abuse among secondary school students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Five (5) research questions were raised to guide the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised 5800 SS1-SS3 school students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 200 students as sample for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled Questionnaire on Knowledge and Perception of Drug Use and Abuse among Secondary School Students (QKPDUASSS). It was validated by the researchers’ supervisor and two experts in Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin City. Its reliability was established at 0.87 using Cronbach Alpha method. The data collected for the study was analyzed using frequency tables, simple percentages and mean.
The findings revealed that the substances usually abused by secondary schools students are prescription medicines, marijuana, alcohol, opiates and cocaine respectively; the rate of drug abuse among secondary school students in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State is high (mean = 2.99); factors influencing the use of drugs among secondary school students includes conflict in family relationship, lack of parent’s involvement in the education of the child, association with delinquent or substance using peers and poverty respectively; the level of knowledge of the health risk associated with the abuse of hard drugs among students was high (mean =2.84); the students perceived that drug abuse has high negative implication on them (mean=2.93).
It was recommended among others that the Ministry of Education should put in place preventive interventions with the aim of providing age appropriate information at early adolescence, in order to help teenagers develop healthy perceptions and equip them with the right information that tells them how to avoid substance abuse when they start getting exposed to social contexts where substances are used. Also, the Government should organize educational programmes, media broadcasts, advertisement, seminars aimed atenlightening the students on the dangers and consequences of drug abuse.
