KNOWLEDGE, RISK-PERCEPTION AND PRACTICE RELATING TO MARIJUANA USE AMONG OUT-OF-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN IKPOBA OKHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

Abstract

The world estimate of Marijuana use as an illicit substance is about 119 to 224 million users. In a study conducted among adolescents, it was reported that adolescents between the ages of 13 to 18 years are the prominent users of illicit drugs like Marijuana. Marijuana use is a problem in Nigeria and other parts of the world resulting in personality disorders in adolescents. There is presently a great dearth in the literature relating to Marijuana use among out-of-school adolescents. This study investigated the knowledge, risk-perception and practice relating to Marijuana among out-of-school adolescents in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State.

This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study which made use of an interviewer administered questionnaire. It was limited in scope to the knowledge, risk-perception and practice relating to Marijuana use among out-of-school adolescents in Ikpoba Okha LGA, Edo State. A four-stage sampling technique was used in selecting 310 respondents from the study local government area. Information collected was on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, risk-perception and practice. Knowledge was scored on a 6-point scale; scores of <4 and >4-6 were classified as poor and good knowledge respectively. Risk-perception was scored on a 12-point scale; scores of <6 and >6-12 were rated as positive and negative perception respectively. Practice was also scored on an 8-point scale; score of <3, and >3 were classified as bad practice and good practice respectively. The data were analysed using the IBM SPSS version 25 using descriptive and inferential statistics at p=0.05. The mean age of respondents was 15.6±2.9 years, half of the respondents (50.3%) were female, (49.7%) were male. Christianity (94.8%) was the major religion. Artisan (73.9%) was the major occupation of the respondents, Majority of the respondents (97.4%) reported to have heard of marijuana; the three highest reported sources were from friends/peers (55.5%), television (49.7%) and area (45.8%). Mean knowledge score obtained was 1.96±0.2; resulting in good knowledge (95.7%) of marijuana use scoring >5 - 6 point on a 6-point knowledge scale while (4.3%) had poor knowledge of marijuana use scoring <5 points. Majority (84.8%) of the respondents had positive perception while few (15.2%) of them had negative perception on marijuana use; few (4.0%) of the respondents had used marijuana and 19 year was reported to be the highest age of initiation to marijuana use. This study showed that knowledge was good; majority had positive perception but bad practice. Efforts must therefore be intensified towards sensitization of the adolescent groups to improve the knowledge, risk-perception and practices relating to marijuana use among out-of-school. Also, friends or peers were seen to have substantial influence in practice hence, parents are encouraged to monitor their children friends or peers.