AKWA IBOM STATE LOCAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE ON DRUG ABUSE

Abstract

This study is on Akwa Ibom state local newspaper coverage on drug abuse. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected newspapers in Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made editors, marketers, senior staff and junior officers were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

Drug abuse has since been recognized as global problem that bother every country in the world today. Different nations across the world including Nigerians abuse the use of drugs and large percentage of these users are our youth in various institution of learning. A drug has been defined as any substances that when aborted into a living organism may modify one or more of its physiological functions (Croen, Woener, Harm and Reichgott 1997). The term is generally used in reference to a substance taken for therapeutic purpose and as abused substances (Kwamanga, Hiombo and Amukoye, 2003).United states of America (USA) study further revealed that excessive illicit drug use rate among high school students and young adults increase with age with a prevalence rate 19.60/0 between the age of 18-20 years as indicated in Kwananga, etal (2003). According to the United Nation Officer on Drugs and Crime (UNODC-Wito,2005 world Drug Report, 2005), some 200million people or 50/0 of the total world’s population age between 1.5 and 64 years have used drugs. The report further says that no nation has been immune to the devastating effects of the drug abuse. The officer of the national agency for the campaign against drug abuse (NACA, 2004B) commissioned the first ever national baseline survey on the abuse of alcohol and other drugs in Kenya in 2001. The report which was released in 2002 revealed that substances abuse, both illicit and licit was forming a culture amongst Kenyan youth. Drug abuse among the youth especially in higher institutions has endangered their lives and this has caused a lot concern as the vice indeed has been identified as major causes of problems experienced in schools in Kenya (Gikonyo, 2005). In Nigerian studies have consistently shown that there is considerable prevalence of drugs and substances use, with varying prevalence rate found for both overall and specific drugs and substances abuse (Abdulkarim, Mokuolu  and Adeniyi, 2005). According to Adelekan,Makanjuola, Nelom, fayeye and Amusan (2005)   student may start using illegal drugs because the drugs are available from their schools. School related factors can also influence students to drug use (Ngesuetal, 2008) how the school administration manages student affairs may led to drug abuse. Prevalence of drug use and abuse are therefore major public health problem in the young adults, especially among the university students. Previous studies show that more than a fifth (22.7%) of primary school children takes alcohol, and also a figure that rises to more than three-quates (68%) of students at the university or other tertiary learning institution in Nigeria take alcohol (siririgi and waihenaya 2001);ngesuetal (2008) Otieno and Offulla (2009). Therefore, a large number of students across all age groups have been exposed to alcohol, tobacco, miraa, glues sniffing, marijuana and even hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine.