Non-Orthodox Substance Use Amongst Secondary School Students in Cross River State, Nigeria

This study aimed at investigating the correlation between personal variables and use of non-orthodox substances. Personal variables investigated included sex, age, and school year grouping of the students, using a cross-sectional survey research design. A sample of 700 students was drawn from a population of 10,560 senior secondary school students in the study area. The researchers designed an instrument titled Use of Non-orthodox Psychoactive Substances Questionnaire (UNPSQ), for data collection. The data generated from the study was collated and analyzed using frequency tables and Chi-squared tests. The three most common non-orthodox substances based on lifetime use were tramadol at 35.9%, tramadol with cannabis at 17.0%, Tom-Tom in coke or La Casera at 16.8%, codeine at 24.4%, and shisha (furniture polish) at 19.0%. The results indicated that the three variables investigated (sex, age and school year grouping) had a significant relationship with the use of non-orthodox substances amongst secondary school students in the study area.