SUBSTANCE ABUSE & ALCOHOLISM AMONG STUDENTS : A POTENTIAL THREAT TO A SECURE FUTURE

SUBSTANCE ABUSE & ALCOHOLISM AMONG STUDENTS: A POTENTIAL THREAT TO A SECURE FUTURE Malam Ibrahim Ahmad Katsina, Security and Safety Department, Baze University, Abuja.

“Drugs take you to hell disguised as Heaven” • Substance use works like a slow poison against the lives of those involved. • Most students that are engaged in these unwholesome habits consider them fashion, and often do not realize the danger of their action until it is too late.

Friends and school mates account for about 90% of the source of influence of the use and abuse of various psychoactive substances. This is a sad and disturbing development for anybody concerned with the future of our youth, and by extension our national development.

Although in Nigeria, alcohol and cigarettes are legal to some extent,these substances are “gateway drugs” to other more potent and dangerous drugs like cannabis, heroin and cocaine. • “Drug abuse/addiction has gone a long way to create several health problems and dangers in our societies. Such health problems include mental illness, cancer of the lungs, school drop-outs, and threat to the life expectancy of the affected youth”. Cole 2014

You may use drugs to… • Increase your ability to withstand sleep especially during examinations, • Build boldness to confront challenges such as chasing the opposite sex, • Enable you feel on top, (Kelvin 2010). • Fix boredom. Eventually you fall into problematic drug use.

Substance use is an illness • A disease that is characterized by a destructive pattern of drug abuse, that leads to significant problems involving tolerance, to or withdrawal from the substance, as well as other problems that use of the substance can cause to the sufferer, either socially or in terms of their work or school performance (Akus: 2010).

Drug addiction is a life dependence on a legal or illegal drug or medication. Drug addiction can cause serious, long- term consequences, including problems with physical and mental health, relationship, and the law (Moronkola 2003).

Causes Psychological factors Social factors Gender Marital status Lower Socio-Economic status Peer pressure • Mood disorders • Depression • Anxiety and/or • Personality disorders

Effects of drug dependency & problematic use Drug and alcohol abuse are very dangerous trends that affects not only the academic performance of students but destroys even their mental and physical health.

Perkinson, 2002 Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and dulls the brain, making learning a difficult task.

Most psychoactive drugs affect the decision making process of students, their creative thinking and the development of necessary life and social skills. • Drugs and alcohol can affect a student’s concentration and thus interest in school and extracurricular activities. This leads to increased absenteeism and drop outs.

Substance Dependency gives false hope and excitement to the victims. • It gives temporary relief to situational challenges. • It pushes the users to do the unthinkable. • It makes them wild and aggressive.

Some of the negative effects of drug dependence and problematic use • It affects academic performance due to lack of concentration; • Leads to dismissals, spillovers and withdrawal from studies, • It affects health by destroying the nervous system; • It increases the heart beat thereby causing heart diseases and restlessness; • It interferes with the power of judgment and poisons the higher brain and nerve centre;

Some of the negative effects of drug dependence and problematic use • It increases the level of aggressiveness; • It is a potent threat to the future, as it makes one hopeless; • It make one Impotent; • It affects the chest, lungs and liver functions; • It increases frequent illness among the victims; • It reduces their life expectancy, and • It increases crimes on campus, such as theft, armed robbery and cultism

The easiest gateway to any form of criminality is drug abuse. • Any criminality be it cultism, armed robbery and banditry, kidnapping or terrorism are, or can be easily committed through the influence of problematic drug use. The actors in any of these crimes need stimulants that will spur them into action, give the needed confidence and remove fear, and thus drug abuse comes into effect in order to provide the needed charge. (Ibrahim: 2015).

Coleman (2010) Drug abuse and addiction is detrimental to the socio-economic and intellectual advancement of the nation.

Challenges in containing the threat of dependency and problematic use • Stigmatization and negativeperception of the society against victims: The society views the victims of problematic drug use as criminals. This attitude makes the victims alienated, intimidated and even threatened by those close to them, instead of bringing them closer and given them hope. • The unfortunate development is that most of the drug addicts are not drawn closer by the society, or parents in order understand their real situation. By stigmatizing and criminalizing drug addicts it pushes them further to desperation which aggravates their situation. Most drug addicts are abandoned by their parents and those close to them. Instead of drawing them closer to be guided, the society stigmatizes them, which by implication is not a healthy development in managing drug/substance dependecy in most societies;

Challenges cont’d • Negative Parenthood. Emerging facts indicate that, most of the students that are into substance and alcohol misuse are in one way or the other pushed to such deviant behaviors by the negative attitude of their parents wittingly or unwittingly. Because nowadays parents either do not have time to study what their children are doing, or they over pamper their children beyond redemption.

Examples of Negative Parenthood • Imagine parents that always leave their children under the care of their house maids. These types of parents have no time to sit with their children, listen to their concerns and guide them for a better future. What type of care and upbringing should they expect from house maids whose character and manners you cannot vouch for? • Or consider parents that do not care to find out where their children go to, or who their friends are. Some don’t even care to know when or what time their children leave or return home, while others do not care to find out whether their children are in school or not.

Examples of Negative Parenthood • Or a well to do Parent that put his/her child on a weekly allowance of N50,000 to N100,000 as a student. What does that Parent expect of that child? What ambition will that child have after graduation? • There are parents who still refuse to come to terms with reality, and agree that their children are into drugs, unless it becomes too late. These category of parents often deliberately choose to shield their children and pretend all is well, considering any suggestion that their children are into drugs as a taboo or set up.

Negative Parenthood cont’d • The resultant negative effects of such attitude are therefore many. Because any child that finds him or herself into such trap of negative parenthood will hardly come to terms with reality. They end up without any ambition or plan for their future, because they lack the necessary guidance and care to realize their full potentials. The only thing these types of children will do is just to find ways of enjoying themselves, by finding groups of like minds who are mostly into drugs, alcohol abuse, cultism and other associated crimes. They end up organizing parties, leaving school at any time and by extension spoiling other people’s children. Most of them get involved in accidents that in most cases turnout to be fatal.

Productive children are a source of pride for their parents and the nation. • Parents should or must wake up and do the needful. Nobody is telling you not to love your children. But the truth is that you should moderate the kind of love you show or give your children. Do not be overprotective. Be modest. Allow them to struggle and know the value of life and living.

Attitude of the Management of Tertiary Institutions. • The attitude of most tertiary institutions and their regulatory bodies, by putting too much emphasis on learning without commensurate effort on character building has been one of the challenges pushing students to deviant behaviors. In as long as students know there is no parameter to assess their character in their overall assessment, they tend to do what they like, as character assessment does not count in their overall grading. However, during graduation of students, the citation usually reads: You are found worthy by the Senate of the Institution in learning and character for the award of…….

What measures are being put in place to assess the student’s character that is commensurate to the one used for learning?

The way forward • The society should try to understand the reality of the problem at hand, admit the fact that it is a threat to the future of our youth, and become resolute to overcome the challenge; • Do whatever it takes in liaison with the relevant Agencies and other stakeholders to cut the supply chain of illicit drugs on Campus. Because no matter the efforts put in place to address drug dependency, if the supply chain is not addressed, the victims will continue to relapse;

The way forward cont’d • Persons with drug dependency should not be regarded as criminals, but rather as unfortunate victims who need help, support and rehabilitation, through the best health care facilities in order to reverse them back to normal life; • Parents should take extra efforts in monitoring the behaviors, attitudes of their children, and always ensure that they vet the type of company their children have;

The way forward cont’d • Parents and guardians should as much as possible regulate how they over pamper or treat their wards, and try to always assess what they do now for their children in relation to the outcome of their actions or inaction in the future; • Continuous guidance and counseling to those affected in order to assist them abandon the negative habits;

The way forward cont’d • Efforts should be made by both the regulatory bodies and the Managements of higher Institutions in introducing courses and proper criteria of assessment of student’s attitudes and character in conformity with the reality on ground. This will help students to sit up and be more responsible; • Students should always avoid bad company of friends whose attitude and behaviors are not in conformity with the standard norms and acceptable behaviors of the society or the Institution;

The way forward cont’d • Students should set standards for themselves in terms of good attitude, performance, character and behavior that are worthy of emulation by others; • Students should learn to be appreciative of the sacrifices made by their parents or guardians for the support they have to be who they are, and try to make them proud; • Students should develop a vision of who they want to be in the future by selecting their role models and following their footsteps;

The way forward cont’d • Students should set up a monitoring mechanism of responsible network among themselves, on how to monitor and rescue their friends against the influence of bad company; • Students should always try to resist the temptation of joining bad company of students or friends who have lost hope for a better future, and are trying to lure others to also become hopeless;

The way forward cont’d • Students should always try to be modest and humble by making the best use of the opportunities provided for them today. Because “those who do not make the best use of the opportunity provided for them today, will hardly have the chance of enjoying a better tomorrow”.

Conclusion • Consider the above presentation as a wakeup call on the dangers of drug dependency and alcoholism on campus to the future of our youth. View it as the candid view of a concerned person for the betterment of your future. Make the best use of the opportunity in order to have a secure future. Avoid drug misuse and alcoholism. They are not good for your future. They are a threat to your survival. The world is moving very fast. Avoid any act that will jeopardize your dream for a better future before it is too late. Be yourself. Avoid trying to be anybody that is not worthy of wasting your future on. Do not try to emulate people of bad character. Let your dreams for a greater and better tomorrow begin today. Yes you can. Just have the inner will to say yes you can be a better person. I believe you can and you are. Time wait for no one.

Appreciation • God bless, and thank you for finding time to read this presentation. • Culled from a book: “An Introduction to Campus Safety and Security” (unpublished), by Ibrahim A. Katsina • ibrahimkatsina080@gmail.com • Ibrahim.katsina@bazeuniversity.edu.ng • ibrokatsina@yahoo.com • Slides prepared by Student Support Unit • Baze University Abuja. • 2018.

We are available to help you: • studentsupportunit@bazeuniversity.edu.ng to book an appointment. & • counsellinghelpline@bazeuniversity.edu.ngTo talk to the Counsellor in private • Our official call line is: 08181057030. STUDENT SUPPORT UNIT…Touching lives each day.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE & ALCOHOLISM AMONG STUDENTS : A POTENTIAL THREAT TO A SECURE FUTURE