Role of Social Media in Creating Drug Abuse Awareness Among Youths.

Abstract The study seeks to establish the general trend of the drug problem and critically analyse strategies used to address the problem; attempts to identify the role that twitter can play in creating awareness of the danger that drug abuse can bring to the society in general and within Nigerian campuses in particular. The findings of this study will aid in evaluating whether these strategies have the potential to help the government in curbing the drug problem among the youths, with a view to coming up with a more comprehensive Programme for addressing the problem in schools. Many university undergraduates in Nigeria who do not have access to internet via computer now do so through smart phones such as iPhones, BlackBerrys, pads, etc., have Twitter accounts and are active users. Drug abuse among the undergraduates has endangered their lives. This is causing a lot of concern, and it has been identified as a major cause of some of the problems experienced even in Nigerian secondary schools. Nigeria, with the other developing African countries, has been caught up with the indiscriminate use, abuse and dependence on drugs of various types. Within the university campuses, drug abuse is becoming an increasing problem.

INTRODUCTION

The history of the human race has also been the history of drug abuse. In itself, the use of drugs does not constitute an evil. Drugs, properly administered, have been a medical blessing. For example, herbs, roots, bark leaves and plants have been used to relieve pain and help control diseases. However, over the past few decades, the use of illegal drugs has spread at an unprecedented rate and has reached every part of the world. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report (2005), some 200 million people, or 5 percent of the total world’s population aged 15 - 64 have used drugs at least