Alcoholism is sometimes described as the excessive drinking itself, to the extent that it is marked by a lack of control. Note that alcoholism is not only a behaviour but also it is a medical or psychiatric problem. We do well to distinguish alcoholism from mere drunkenness, in which the
element of compulsion or addiction is absent.

Smoking has been extensively shown to be an unhealthy habit accounting for at least 2.5 million deaths each year. For this, cigarette advertising was completely banned in Britain in 1965‘ and by the Dutch Parliament in 1987 which included a ban on smoking, in public buildings. Nigeria in 1990 joined these other countries by banning, smoking in public places and restricting advertisement on the media. Such well-meaning legislations may not correct the unhealthy habit of smoking because smoking may still he indulged in privacy and in the absence of advertising. Conversely health information and education directed at the correct target group on the deleterious effects of smoking, are more likely to have longer lasting advantages.
This study explored the knowledge, attitude and practice of smoking by secondary school students in Enugu. It was also hoped that material for a health education programme against smoking as recommended in WHO Smoking Control Guidelines would be provided.

Mental illness is a multi-factorial problem for it can be organic, drug-induced, psychologically or socially based. The understanding that there are cultural and psycho-social processes that are involved in the problem of mental illness and that the problem may require social and emotional approaches has led to the inclusion of social work and psychological methods of treatment in psychiatric management in institutional psychiatry. Wolberg poses the question of “whether there are differences in the quality of improvement with varied forms of treatment, or do certain kinds of problems respond better to specific types of treatment, or do certain kinds of problems respond better to specific types of treatment methods”. It is indisputable that drug
treatment alone cannot adequately deal with all forms of mental illness, especially the alcohol/drug related cases of mental illness.

The history of drug abuse in Nigeria is a catalogue of changes brought about by such factors as the civil war, unexpected oil boom that followed with its sudden increase in Gross National Product (GNP) and rapid socio—economic changes and urbanisation which also led to disintegration of the family social network, and increase in drug availability. Now the country is facing an unprecedented economic depression. This paper will attempt to examine the trends of drug abuse in the past, the prevalence of the problem today, some factors associated with causes of drug abuse as reported in literature, was of preventing the problem through policy formulation, and the current efforts of the Federal Government at a stemming the supply of and demand for narcotic drugs through the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

In addressing this topic, I will want to look at why it is necessary to rehabilitate someone who abuses alcohol or drugs in the first place. How is a rehabilitation centre like the one we have — Our Lady of Victory Rehabilitation Centre, Sabon Gida Kanar– run? What problems do we encounter and what are our prospects. It is my hope that giving answers to these questions will sufficiently address the topic.
May I start by saying that the issue of alcohol and drug abuse is one that is as ancient and modern as man. It is a tragic waste and blemish on all ages of history that human misery brought about by this abuse, with its consistent medical, social, economic and spiritual implications, has gone so long unattended. It was only in the 1930s that society began to appreciate the enormity of the problem caused by the abuse of alcohol and the magnitude of the ensuring social and economic tragedies. Alcohol abuse is the cause of widespread misery, loss of family Income, marital heartbreak and conflict. As an adverse factor in recovery from other ills and as an entree to drug addiction, alcohol plays a paramount role.

In order to discuss the problem of management drug abuse in Nigeria adequately, it is necessary to analyze the problems first- An excursion into the history of the problem and recent trends is required to get the problem into proper perspective.
Up to the early 1960s drug abuse was practically unknown in this country. The first drug of abuse recorded in literature was cannabis. According, to Asuni who carried out the earliest study on this subject in Nigeria. prior to the second world war, even the plant was not known in this Country and as evidence, it has no indigenous name in any of the Nigerian languages. The plant was brought into the country by soldiers and sailors returning during and after the World War II.

In addressing this topic, it will be more comprehensive to go a bit further to include the concept of aetiology in terms of relationship between drug and mental illness. To begin with it, it is necessary to point out that drug abuse, drug dependence or drug addiction is included in the World Health Organisation International Classification of Diseases, and also in the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as mental illness. As far back as 1974, the Workshop of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria was the first to call attention to the problem of drug dependence in the country and psychiatrists continue to publish scientific papers in reputable journals. This point is very important and pertinent in this
country where people tend to shy away from accepting that drug abuse is a type of mental illness and seek help from inappropriate agencies. This is particularly so in cases of drug abuse which do not manifest with overt psychotic symptoms but involving drugs with strong addictive attributes like heroin and cocaine. This paper will focus on these.

Alcohol is one of the substances whose consumption is legally accepted. Its production is also a growing economic enterprise. Despite the legality of consumption and big, business status of the industry, alcohol consumers are placed in a peculiar position because the product is habit forming. This can place the consumer in a deviant position in society. The individual consumer is then left to rely on his own resources, specifically, his ability to control himself, to drink in moderation and under appropriate conditions.
The havoc caused by alcohol has resulted in several actions by both researchers and practitioners aimed at arresting the situation. One of such activities is the search for causal factors. The search has been long and has not been without its disappointment. The research has
been conducted from two angles, genetic-biological approach“: and the social-psychological approach. None of the above approaches has been able to explain problem drinking completely. ln addition most of the studies have been described as being unidimensional rather
than multidimensional.

Current researches on alcohol use suggest that the issue of alcohol use and personality, thought by some authors to produce no clear-cut pattern is far from being laid to rest. For one reason, alcohol abuse is a major problem affecting the physiological, psychological and social
life of the users and abusers. Alcohol abuse is a major factor in various types of accidents both vehicular and industrial. Since alcohol use involves life pattern of the user; the search for the personality variables that may distinguish between alcohol users and non users will continue.

Sophistication seems to affect every aspect of life: housing, clothing, feeding and even the types of drugs kept or used by families. The baby box/tray called “ajogba” in the Yoruba speaking parts of Nigeria is a common object in homes of young, couples. The newly wed in some areas have it as one of the wedding presents and the goddess of infertility is worshipped with the box/tray on the heads of maidens of child bearing age.
Traditionally, and in the past. it contained no drug: it had things used during. baby’s bath time for example soap, oil. sponge, comb, powder, “osun” [Ochre (Bimtida)], a red powder commonly used traditionally for dermatological problems) and shea butter which is rubbed on the umbilicus. Considering the contents of the box/tray as found in this study, it would be appropriate to call it 3 mini pharmacy. The traditional contents are invariably kept but a lot of drugs now used routinely on babies (often inappropriately) have been added. Studies have shown that even talc (dusting powder), normally used on the skin has become a popular cord dressing material resulting in infections, umbilical hernia and jaundice. The main purpose of this investigation was to identify harmful contents or the baby box/tray in order to discourage their use without medical prescription and to promote safe use of potentially dangerous ones through health education programmes at clinic and community levels.

Asuni’s report based on the data from the Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, noted the gradual increase in the number of psychiatric cases with alcoholic problem. Over 60% of his cases were above the age of thirty. Similarly, in hs own study of the alcoholics admitted to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, over a ten year period. Odejide noticed that the abuse of alcohol was becoming a major health problem. As in Asuni’s report the cohort considered of middle-aged subjects. Considering similar views expressed by Marinho, there is no doubt that, there is a progressive increase in the use and abuse of alcohol in Nigeria. However, the prevalence is still relatively low compared to the percentage of those with pathological relationship to alcohol in some European countries, despite efforts to reduce the number with a well organised medical treatment and rehabiltation system like is found in West Germany. It is not known, if the incidence of delirium tremens in Jos, Nigeria, is as hish as it is in Castrop-Rauxel, West Germany. Hence it becomes necessary to examine the pattern of alcoholism in Jos and compare and contrast it with the experimental data collected from Castrop-Rauxel, West Germany where the principal author lived and worked with a hospital for many years.

Chemical substances that alter mood and behaviour have been known and used by man since ancient times. Earlier studies in Nigeria,“ have shown that the main drugs abused in Nigeria are alcohol, cannabis and amphetamine. In recent times however, the abuse of “hard” drugs
especially heroin and cocaine have been reported.
The study of alcoholism or alcohol related disabilities in Nigeria, has continued to show regional disparity. Most studies from the South have reported lower figures than Studies from the North. For instance, Binitie found only 0.4% of alcoholics in his study in Benin-City while
Odejidel in a 10 year retrospective survey of the case-notes of patients admitted into the 500 bedded University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, found only 42 problem drinkers. In Kaduna, lfabumuyi’ using the CAGE screening test on patients attending the Ahmadu Bello University general out-patient clinics, the specialist clinics of the same university and the Armed Forces Hospital. Kaduna, found a high prevalence of alcoholism problem drinking with figures ranging from 17.2%, 31.3% to 41.1% in the various clinics.

Cannabis abuse has been shown to account for about 20% of all admissions in our hospitals.‘ Boroffka, claims that the loneliness associated with urbanization and industrialization motivates the Nigerian youth to abuse cannabis. Several psychiatric syndromes have been
associated with the ingestion of cannabis. Notable among these is the “a motivational syndrome’ characterised by apathy, withdrawal and unproductivity. Psychotic episodes in naive and heavy habitual cannabis users have also been reported.

Amphetamine and related group of drugs is another commonly abused drug in Nigeria. Olatawura found that the misuse of these group of drugs was common among the Nigerian privileged youths.

The aim of this paper is to identify how many psychiatric patients have problems with alcohol and for drugs and to describe their social and clinical characteristics.

The use of drugs and other pharmacologically active substances for recreational, medical and social purposes probably dates back to the times of our forefathers. In the past the choice of such substances was limited to those most easily available locally e.g. kolanut, tobacco, alcohol etc. But in present tlay societies, youths and adults use and abuse various types of drugs especially pressure-producing, substances, or those which relieve anxieties due to the tensions inherent in modern life. In addition to coffee, tobacco and alcohol which are seen as daily essentials, amphetamines are taken to stay awake, barbiturates to go to sleep, Indian hemp, manclrax and others are taken as panacea for stress of daily life. The problems should therefore; be seen as a multifactoral one, a psychosocial or interpersonal and sometimes medical problem.

The consumption of alcohol has been a problem for thousands of years. According to a recent edition of a leading American textbook of medicine approximately ninety percent of the adult population of the United States have drunk alcohol at least once in their lifetime. Forty to fifty percent of men have had temporary alcohol-induced problems. Ten percent of the men and between 3 and 5% of the women in the United States develop pervasive and persistent alcohol related problems (alcoholism). A study conducted in the US in the 1960s’ showed the rate of heavy drinking among white males to be about the same as among black males (21 % vs 19%), but showed a higher rate among black women than among white women (11 % vs 4%). However, more recent studies (the Epidemiological Catchment Area studies) found no significant difference in the rate between blacks and whites. A study of black Americans admitted with a diagnosis of pneumonia found that 30% of them were alcoholic. This is in agreement with a recent psychiatric textbook which states that between 25 and 40% of general surgical and medical in-patients in the US have alcohol problems.

Drug abuse research, particularly those concerned with alcohol abuse have generally been stepped up in Nigeria reflecting the increasing trend in use and misuse of this substance. An interesting aspect of these researches is their focus on young people.“ These studies especially as in the case of Onwuzurikez and Mbosowo have found that the use of alcohol among undergraduates is associated with a number of social, psychological and cultural factors. The most important predictors of drinking behaviour among young people have been peer-group and familial influences. In a recent large scale study of alcohol use and abuse pattern in the Middlebelt of Nigeria, Obot found that young people reported drinking at least once a day; with majority of
these people being under 20 years of age. These findings con?rm the pattern noticed in earlier studies.” In these studies, children aged between 11-14 years were found to be abusers of various kinds of drugs including alcohol; similar to that found in a survey by the lnternational Council for Alcoholism and Addictions (ICAA) in which high alcohol abuse was found in young people aged 15-20 years.

The World Health Organization has long recognized that problems relating to excessive consumption of alcohol constitute one of the world’s major public health challenges. Alcohol consumption is increasing and is causing concern all over the world. In developing countries, the evolving trend is for multinational corporations to brittle, distribute and market western-style drinks. The astronomical increase in the number of breweries in Nigeria in the last two decades had been commented upon. Producers of local drinks are also perfecting their techniques.
Epidemiological surveys of rural and urban areas show that alcohol use is widespread among, both the Iiterates and non-literates, cuts across the social classes and sexes. Reports of drug use among young people reveal that alcohol top the list.

Less attention has been paid to the use and abuse of licit substances (eg. alcohol and tobacco) in Nigeria than to the less familiar, often frightening, illicit drugs. Early studies of drug abuse were primarily on the effect of cannabis (Indian hemp) on mental health. Today, activities in the arena of drug abuse control have, to a great extent, been influenced by the anxiety over cocaine and heroin.

The use of drugs in sport can be treated under Four headings namely;

(a) therapeutic usage in the treatment of ailments,
(b) usage for performance continuation purposes when athletes are incapacitated by injuries,
(c) social or recreational use and
(d) usage for performance enhancement purposes.
When we talk about abusage of drugs in sport, we are mainly concerned with the two latter subdivisions. and especially the last.

Food is another source of nitrite due to technological process (smoking) to preparation (frying) or to bacterial induction (in fish). It is for these reasons that nitrites are used in food factories for its antimicrobial preservative and favouring effect as a food additive for several fish,
meat, and cheese products.‘ Nitrite salt used to cure meats has several historical and economic aspects until of recent when the practice has been found to be potentially hazardous. Human exposure to nitrite arise from its use as a good food additives where it perf’orn1s a very useful
function in protecting the consumer from pathogenic micro-organisms such as clostridium botulinum- Some untreated food stuffs like tomatoes, beef and potatoes also contain nitrite though at lower levels.” Other sources of nitrite are beer (alcohol), malt, tinned food, processed foods, cured meat and beer. This paper is mainly concerned with the first i.e. beer.

Nigeria, for a long time now, has been witnessing a sharp rise in incidence of alcohol abuse. While a lot of attention is being directed towards the elimination and prevention of drug abuse generally, very little effort is made at addressing the issue of alcohol abuse. Could it be that the issue borders on lack of recognition of alcohol abuse as a social malaise or is it a case of misplaced priority or sheer neglect? This lukewarm attitude may be attributed to the cultural and social patronage alcohol consumption enjoy in Nigeria.
lndeed, cases of crime, divorce, accident, ill-health, etc. have been associated with alcoholism in advanced countries like the U.S.A.. The former USSR set up a campaign against and engaged in battle with alcohol abuse. We thought, therefore, that it would be in order if Nigeria can setup machinery towards the same goal i.e elimination of incidence of alcohol abuse. This problem, however, can be tackled effectively if only we can investigate the causes and consequences of alcohol abuse. This stand is the motivating factor for this paper which highlights economic factors responsible for increasing consumption and abuse of alcohol in Nigeria. The paper also endeavours to suggest some necessary steps or strategies for the minimisation or total elimination of cases of alcohol abuse in Nigeria.

From the early beginning of remedial social legislation against the Nigerian drug problem, an elaborate framework backed up by strict surveillance has developed. The law courts and tribunals, the police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have been playing their roles in stemming the tide of the problem without corresponding success. Strict vigilance is mounted at various entry points in and out of the country to ensure that drug trafficking is minimized. Arrests of abusers are daily being, made. The rapidity with which this problem seems to be growing calls for a methodological reappraisal if we must record a higher degree of success in our war against it. It cannot be doubted that the legal prohibitions against drug trafficking, peddling and abuse are appropriate or capable of reducing the incidence of the problem. What can be said is that the war against drug abuse is increasing as drug use itself.
We, therefore, need to raise pragmatic questions which can help us assess the present strategies being employed to combat this recurrent social problem.

Alcohol and substance abuse in adolescence has been highlighted in several studies.“ Also brought to the fore in different researches has been the sexual habits of this population.” This studies have found the desire to engage in such behaviors to be associated with a number of factors including unhappy and poor background culminating in defective personality development; the pressure to succeed in academic work, and the influence of significant others (peer groups parents etc). The last influence of significant others particularly of the individual’s peer group is the specific focus of this paper.

Conventional theories focus on individual pathology and/or anomie conditions as the most crucial casual factors in drug use and abuse. This, the paper argues is mistaken. For the focus dismisses the relationship between natural and synthetic substances, as well as the processes of the transformation of one into the other. Serious issues – the changing adaptive mechanisms of man, the reification of drugs, the role of the pharmaceutical industry and the dialectic of self and societyare hardly raised. Drug use in the final analysis, is the consequence of the demand by society to function. The conditions of dehumanization under which individuals live must therefore be examined. The drug phenomenon is inexplicable outside the general dynamics of society. Not all drug related problems are a function of capitalism. Nor is the concern with individual substance abusers. That society presents allopathic medicine as the solution to essentially social problems, and that individuals conceive and use drugs as such, constitutes dependence. It is the whole society that depends on drugs, not mere individuals. For drugs have replaced social relations.

Furthermore concern is being expressed that if care is not taken and early enough, developing countries would trod the path followed by the developed countries, though the scale may differ. The point to stress is that alcohol abuse and dependence are becoming problems which future governments may have to face. Yet research on this issue have been rather neglected by social scientists in Nigeria.

This paper therefore reviews the literature on the concepts of use and abuse of and dependence on alcohol largely, though not exclusively, in the context of West-European literature with the hope that some insights would be gained about these issues. While the paper outlines the almost indispensable functions of alcohol in society, the implications of the misuse of and dependence on alcohol are discussed in the light of the literature under review.

The mass media have become important socializing agents that help to create and shape attitudes, values, behaviours and perceptions of social reality. Tan describes the influence of the mass media in the acquisition of these response tendencies as social effects which can be learned. He stresses the importance of social learning theory to mass communication arguing that many of the behaviours we learn through modelling are first observed in the mass media.