New trend of drugs abused by secondary school students in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: It appears that there is a new trend in the types of drugs abused by secondary school students in Nigeria that makes it difficult to identify current drug abusers. Objectives: This study was conducted to reveal the trends with regards to the types of drugs abused by these students in the country. Methods: This is an online and desktop review of published articles about the types of drugs abused by secondary school students during the period that spanned from 2010–2020. Results: In all, 17 research reports were identified as having data on the types of drugs abused by secondary students in the Nigeria. It was found that 18 different drugs were empirically identified as being abused by secondary school students in 9 different states of Nigeria. The observed trend is that alcohol, cannabis, tobacco and cigarettes are the most abused drugs, while drugs that were least abused were cocaine, caffeine, glue, heroine, energy drinks, miraa, rohypnol and tramadol. Conclusion: It was concluded that studies of drug abuse by secondary school students in Nigeria are not yet robust enough to reveal the types of drugs that are currently being abused. Keywords: Adolescent Health; Drug Abuse; Drug Effects; Drug Safety; Drug Utilisation.