LECTURERS PERCEPTION OF THE INFLUENCE OF DRUG ABUSE ON STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Drug can simply be said to be a substance that affects the function of living cells, used in medicine and related disciplines to diagnose, cure, prevent the occurrence of diseases and disorders, and prolong the life. Moronkola (1993) believed that use, misuse and abuse of drugs are three concepts in drug issues that need proper classification. Use is a term reserved for any purpose to which drug is taken to the body by man.
Cecilia (2010) asserted that medically, drug abuse is the use of drug to an extent that it produces definite impairment of social, psychological or physiological functioning of the user. It is the use of illegal drugs, or the misuse of prescription or over-the-counter drugs especially without the consent of a medical personnel. It refers to the use of a drug for purposes for which it is not intended or using a drug in excess. Such drugs of abuse include tobacco, barbiturates, amphetamines and narcotics amongst others. Drug abuse entails a strong cultural and subjective bias, depends on whether a society at a particular point in time views the use of a particular drug as acceptable or not. Therefore, what is regarded as normal use as against pathological abuse is at variance greatly from drug, quantity, situation to situation, culture to culture or even among subcultures of the same society.
Education is regarded as an instrument for economic, social, political and educational growth and development. There has equally been a growing commitment to education by successive government, individual communities and missionary bodies (Bettinger and Slonim 2007). This commitment on the part of government and other relevant stakeholders have extended to ensure that students are properly groomed and tutored on how best to effectively manage themselves and improve academic performance in an ever-changing world. These changes have tempted some students to believe that, for them to be able to maintain academic expectations they need to involve in the use of hard drugs (Brook et al. 2009).
Drug abuse, is generally viewed as the use of a substance that modifies mood or behaviour in a manner characterized by a maladaptive pattern of use. Musto (2008) asserts that drug abuse is the use of drugs that can cause disorder characterized by the use of a mood or behaviour-altering substance in a maladaptive pattern resulting in significant impairment or distress, such as failure to fulfill social or occupational obligations or recurrent use in situations in which it is physically dangerous to do so or which end in legal problems. What this connotes is that it influences behaviour. The use of drugs by students in Nigerian universities has become an embarrassing phenomenon to parents/guardians, schools, government authorities, and the society at large.