Misuse and Abuse of drugs among students in Cameroon: The case of the university of Buea

DISCUSSION

The current research was carried out to critically appraise drug abuse with undergraduate students in the university of Buea. This chapter presents discussion of findings from the study, conclusions drawn from the findings, limitations encountered as well as recommendations.

The finding agrees with Luczak et al., (2015) whose study in Mauritius reported a significant relationship between religion and drug use. Their study also found a lower drug consumption rate among the Muslim participants, this may be as a result of strong proscription of drug use among Muslims. This contrast between the finding of the current study and Luczak et al could be accounted for by the difference in environment, culture and policies between the two countries. Results from test of the second research hypothesis showed that there is a statistically significant difference in drug use among male and female participants. The results also showed that men are significantly more likely to use drug compared to women. This finding is supported by similar study conducted by researchers (Wilsnack et al, 2009), According to Wilsnack et al.,(2009)wherever in the world research is a carried out on whether there are consistent differences in how men and women abuse drugs, the answers to this questions are consistently that, men are more likely to consume drug than women are, male abuse drugs in larger quantities than female abuse drugs. The finding also suggests that biological differences play a role in how men and women abuse drugs, also most cultures tend to have more tolerance towards men consuming drugs while women who do the same are usually considered to be of lower morals.

Findings from the third research hypothesis revealed that there is no statistically significant age difference in drug consumption although younger adults aged 25 years and below were found to be more likely to use drug compared to older adults aged 26 years and above. In contrast to the finding of the third research hypothesis, Satre and Knight (2010) reported that age is significantly related to drug use. Satre and knight also reported higher drug use among younger adults. According to Briton and Bell (2015), drug abuse behaviour changes over our lifetimes from adolescence through old age, drug use rises sharply during adolescence and reaches its peak at 25 years and subsequently starts declining. This could explain why the younger adults aged 25 years and above in the current study being more likely to use drug compared to participants aged 26 years and above.