DRUG ABUSE AND ALCOHOL USAGE AMONG YOUTHS IN KANO METROPOLITAN AREA: A PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

This paper is in attempt to offer a better understanding of Drug abuse and Alcohol consumption among youths and its consequences, as well as the need to better understand social and cultural influences on the usage. As drug abuse and Alcohol usage among youths is a global health and social problem with distinct conditions and problems that vary locally. The use of psychoactive substances among youths has become a subject of public concern worldwide due to the fact that it contributes potentially to deliberate or undeliberate harm/injury. This misuse of substance in the northern Nigeria has recently become rampant which call for a serious concern both nationally and internationally, despite the efforts of the Nigerian tiers of Government and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to stem to its tide in Nigeria, there has been a consistent spate in the number of cases especially among youths. Thus, substance use affects developing brain by increasing the risk of addiction, mood disorders, lowered impulse control, increased risk for adverse consequences, confusion, cognitive impairment, and medical morbidity, which can contribute to hospitalizations and health care costs, as well as loss of independence and has been known to increase risky sexual activity, emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease, oral cancers, laryngeal carcinoma, and a number of other health issues in older age, decreased academic grades, and making poor decisions, that can be detrimental to the youths in using or to other crimes, militancy and violence behaviors etc. The paper will conclude by prescribing some ways of curbing the menace arising from drug abuse and alcohol usage among youths.