Abstract

Background: Psychoactive drugs are substances that affect mental processes, perception, consciousness, cognition or mood and emotions. Objective: We evaluated the prevalence, use, and factors affecting psychoactive substance use among pharmacy and medical students in a Nigerian university. Methods: We carried out an observational cross-sectional study among students from two campuses. Chi-square was used to explore the relationship between the two categorical variables. A p-value of > 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of the total 342 participants, 324 individuals (94.7%) have been exposed to information regarding substance abuse. Majority of the respondents 243 (71.1%), accessed their information from social media. The awareness levels of addictive substances are: cocaine (312, 91.2%), marijuana (309, 90.4%), tramadol (276, 80.7%), codeine (273, 79.8%), and tobacco/nicotine (270, 78.9%). The p-value for the use of codeine between the two sexes was 0.004. Conclusion: There was high use of psychoactive substances among the students. Marijuana and Tramadol were the most commonly misused substances. Majority of the respondents got their information from social media. Teenage curiosity, peer influence, and access to drugs were the leading factors that contributed to the substance. Knowledge positively correlated with the substance use.

Keywords: Addiction, Psychoactive drugs, Students, Substance abuse, Public health, Nigeria