Project Summary

Consumption of psychoactive substances is as old as mankind. Substance use disorder (SUD) is the general name that characterizes a range of problems associated with substance use whether licit/illicit or prescribed drugs. These substances affect the bodies’ central nervous system (CNS) there by altering the mood, thoughts, sensory perceptions, judgement and behaviour. Classes of psychoactive substances include stimulants (e.g., cocaine), opioids (e.g. tramadol and codeine), depressants (e.g. alcohol) and hallucinogens (e.g. heroine). According to United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) survey, 247 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 used illicit substances at least once in 2014 (UNODC, 2016).

People use substances for various reasons. These include, curiosity, to socialize with friends, to feel good, to celebrate, to feel better, to do better and to self-medicate. Users usually progress from recreational use, occasional use, regular use and addictive use (Sartor et al., 2010).

This project was aimed to bring together young people in Jos to raise awareness/educate on drug abuse and addiction and also create sustainable community awareness volunteers to discourage and stand against use of psychoactive substances within their communities. Aibeth Centres also created a youth friendly recreation activity such as the Hike to engage youths positively through Psycho-education.

Activities

1. Hiking Gog and Magog Shere Hills.

2. Bird Watching.

3. Psycho-Education and Drug Abuse awareness.

4. Clean Up.

5. Economic Tree donations.