THE EFFECTS OF DRUG USE ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG STUDENTS IN ATEBUBU-AMANTIN MUNICIPALITY

CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION1.0 Overview This chapter contains the following sub-topics; background to the study, statement of the problem purpose and objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitation of the study, limitations of the study. Definition of terms and the organization of the rest of the study.1.1 Background … See more

CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION1.0 Overview This chapter contains the following sub-topics; background to the study, statement of the problem purpose and objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitation of the study, limitations of the study. Definition of terms and the organization of the rest of the study.1.1 Background to the Study Over the past several years, many governments throughout the world have expressed worry about drug usage and its impact on education as well as on the health and well-being of their inhabitants. People have been consuming drugs, such as alcohol and plant-derived substances for thousands of years, according to Oakley and Ksir (2002). They also said that historical records of highly developed ancient cultures demonstrate that psychoactive substances played an essential economic and religious role and that people in ancient society had always used, misused or abused drugs. Alcohol and cigarettes are the gateway drugs for students in Africa, according to research (Obot & Anthony, 2004; Odejide, 2006). When it comes to substance use among African school-aged adolescents, 6.6 percent (two or more per day for at least 20 days or more in the previous month) use risky alcohol, and 10.5 percent use illicit drugs, according to a study by Peltzer (2009) conducted in Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe (three or more times ever). Peer pressure, lack of parental supervision, and depression were all linked to substance use (tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs), while school attendance was protective against substance use when combined with these other risk factors (loneliness, sleeping problems, sadness), as were suicidal ideation and suicide plans. A substance (drug) is anything other than food that is taken to alter a target youth's mood, behavior, feelings, or psychological condition, whether it is natural or chemical in nature (WHO, 2003). It is called substance abuse if someone uses drugs or drinks too much alcohol, and it usually causes a lot of issues in the person's life (Simmons, 2008). In general, drugs fall into one of two categories: prescription and illicit. There are two types of medications in this category: those that are legal and those that are unlawful. Data from the Census Bureau (2009) shows that legal drugs in the United States of America can be divided into four categories based on when and where they are used. Drugs that fall into this category include social drugs as well as prescription, over-the-counter, and Miscellaneous medications illicit drugs are those that, if used, have the potential to have harmful effects on the person who uses them. It's been almost a decade in the history of nations, according to Brown, Carrello, Vik & Porter (1998), and drug usage is on the rise, including cocaine, heroin, opium, marijuana, alcohol, and a plethora of other harmful substances to human health. Multiple governments have fought war on drug trafficking for years now, realizing how dangerous it is to the health of their citizens and how dangerous it is to their country's internal order and national security. Opium dens were made illegal in San Francisco in 1975, as an example of legal measures used by the United States of America (USA) to combat drug consumption. First, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required patent medicines containing opium and other drugs to be accurately labeled, was a national drug law. After the Hanson Narcotic Act was passed in 1914, no one other than licensed doctors could sell large amounts of opiates or cocaine. Alcohol and tobacco were the most often abused narcotics in Ghana before World War II, according to data. During World War II, British colonial forces in Burma brought marijuana to Ghana. Ghanaian society has traditionally relied on herbalists and medical professionals to prescribe its citizens' medications. Alcohol, cigarettes, and cola were three commonly used and abused legal drugs (WHO, 1992). Drug misuse among Ghanaian students was not common in the past. Ghanaian students had a virtually drug-free existence. The so-called "brain drugs" were discreetly taken by a few students in order to improve their learning skills. Most Ghanaian schools now teach a different story. Students have taken part in large numbers in drug usage in recent years. The promotion of illegal drug trade is escalating rapidly, endangering the health and well-being of many individuals, especially young people. The subject has gained traction in a variety of settings, including homes, schools, recreation areas, and places of employment. The government and private groups and people are concerned about drug abuse, as indicated by the various anti-drug campaigns they finance. Speaking on the situation of the country's drug use issue, NACOB's acting executive secretary delivered a speech Ghana has seen an upsurge in the usage of drugs such cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and alcohol (Oteng-Ababio & Owusu, 2011). More specifically, he points out that between 2003 and 2010, drug usage among young people in Ghana between the ages of 15 and 25 increased steadily at the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital in Accra (GH). Between Ghana, a slew of cocaine scandals rocked the country in 2006 and 2007. Accra Psychiatric Facility's medical director revealed that the hospital received 32,065 patients in 2006, with substance misuse cases accounting for 12 percent of all admissions (Daily Graphic. 29th December, 2006). According to the 22nd August 2006 edition of the Daily Graphic, a Nigerian man was detained for trying to smuggle significant quantities of cocaine pellets into the United Kingdom by swallowing them. Although the Ghanaian Law Enforcement Authorities continued to arrest low-level narcotics traffickers, they did not put in the same effort to pursue big time barons, according to a 2009 report published by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US Department in Accra (Daily Graphic, 4th March, 2009). People who use and abuse drugs and become addicted to them are on the rise in Ghana, according to Ametepey (2010). The time has come, according to Dr. Dodoo (as described in Ametepey, 2010), for universities and health services to compile accurate baseline data on the prevalence of drug usage in the country. It will be easier to determine whether the drug problem is decreasing or increasing in the future, according to him, once that is done. Most 12 and 13-year-olds begin using drugs (Karen, 2008; Parrot, Morinana, Moss & Scholey, 2004). Substance misuse often begins with a single act, such as smoking cigarettes in the school bathroom during recess. These young people would subsequently turn to additional narcotics like alcohol and cannabis, as well as prescription medications (Berk, 2007; Donald, Lazarus, & Pelieve, 2007). For a variety of reasons, teenagers turn to drugs and alcohol. These include: peer pressure; familial issues; and stress alleviation (Jaffe, 1998; Liddle & Rowe 2006; Rice & Dolgin, 2008). Somehow, these young people don't appear to care about the long-term consequences of using narcotics. Once these adolescents are under the influence of drugs, they become aggressive and violent towards their parents, educators, colleagues, and other members of the community. The use of drugs also affects their academic performances and in some situations lead to the drop-out of school and adding to the increasing rate of unemployment in the country. As Senior High Schools are the venues where adolescents cultivate most of the anti-social vices such as smoking, alcoholism, robbery and prostitution, it behooves on teachers who are the main character trainers to fashion out a programme to help resolve the adolescent drug problems that exist in the school. In an effort to change the adolescent attitude towards drug abuse, the Senior High Schools become a focal point for the dissemination of drug education message. Drug education in the schools has not been given the attention it deserves. Adhoc measures are always adopted to curb this serious menace. Drug education in schools usually takes the form of occasional assembling of students for lectures or talks by teachers or medical doctors. Sometimes students also participate in special days or other programmes in which drug problem is emphasized. These approaches do not seem to be enough in combating this serious social canker. Today drugs a found in the classrooms and on school campuses. These and other several cases in the country in general and schools in particular necessitated this research work.1.2 Statement of the Problem It appears that illicit drug usage is on the increase at an alarming rate and is likely to continue to increase if not checked. The motives or forces that plunge senior high school students into drugs use without authority are little known. Again, the sources for and frequency of drugs use by students at Atebubu-Amantin Municipal are not well understood. One suspicion is that peer pressure might have been the cause for the abuse. This assumption has not been investigated yet. In the olden days, the issue of drug abuse was not known to the rural communities, it was highly concentrated amongst the youth in the cities and commercial towns. Today, the issue is completely different. As the world has become a global village drug abuse is common to towns and villages which has made the problem a national canker. The consumption rate of drugs such as tramadol, marijuana and cocaine has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent times. Whiles the trade in illicit drugs has become a rife in almost every part of the country and their target audience has been the youth. (Ametepey, 2010). The substance abuse problem in Ghana is not different from other countries though there may be variations in the extent of the problem. According to the World Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (GNA, 2013) cannabis and amphetamine are the most common drugs abuse by people. However, in Ghana the drugs may be different. It is perceived that marijuana, or cocaine and tramadol are the commonly abused drugs by the youth though statistics not available. As cited in Donkor (2015), an article by Ametepey reported that there are almost 14-22 million people abusing cannabis 16-34 thousand Opiates addicts and 64-83 thousand users of cocaine among the population aged 15-64 in the West Africa Region in the year 2008. Illicit drug use has been a source of worry to many Ghanaian, especially among students in Atebubu-Amantin Municipality. A report from Narcotics Control Board (2014), published in “Today” newspaper in 2014 revealed that about fifty thousand (50,000) individuals in the country who are mostly adolescents are drugs addicts. The report further explained that among the total figure of 50,000 drug users in the country, 35,000 remained students from the first and second cycle schools and tertiary institutions who are of the age 12 to 35 years (NACOB, 2014). It is speculated that students’ academic performance becomes affected when they start using drugs which have negative effects on academic performance such as missing class, failure in examinations, negative attitude to school and waves of school unrest. Therefore, this study sought to investigate effects of drug use on academic performance among students in Atebubu-Amantin Municipality.

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