Substance Abuse amongst Youth and Community Security in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Psychoactive substance abuse among youth has becomes a threat to human and community security as well as society in general. Substance abuse is a significant security issue that causes insecurity to live and property in most communities in Nasarawa State. The paper examines the implication of substance abuse among youth on community security in Nasarawa State. A survey design was adopted with a sample size drawn from six Local Government Areas using a multistage sampling technique. Data were obtained using both quantitative and qualitative approaches and questionnaires were administered to 400 respondents, and 6 In-depth Interviews (IDIs) were also conducted to augment the quantitative data. Though, a total of 380 questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed using the descriptive statistics. The qualitative data collected from respondents using IDI guide was analysed using content analysis. The study found that the major causes of substance abuse among youth include self-medication, experimentation and peer influence. The study equally discovered that the implications of substance abuse on community security include increased criminality as cases of ethnic cleansing, theft/burglary, assault, political thuggery and drug trafficking have increased significantly. The study found that there was low level of community participation in the control of substance abuse. The study recommends for increased funding of drug control agencies, and community inclusivity to effectively quell the danger of substance abuse on community security in Nasarawa state and Nigeria at large.