{"id":168593,"date":"2025-07-06T12:21:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth"},"modified":"2025-07-06T13:23:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T12:23:59","slug":"psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth","title":{"rendered":"Psychologist Warns of Increasing Drug Abuse in Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A counselling psychologist, Dr. Gloria Eifediyi, has raised concerns over the rising rate of drug and substance abuse in Nigeria, particularly among young people.<\/p>\n

Eifediyi, who works at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo, spoke during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos State.<\/p>\n

She identified several root causes of youth drug abuse, including broken homes, negative influence from social media, boredom, and unresolved trauma.<\/p>\n

While emphasising that \u201cdrug abusers are not criminals, but victims who need help,\u201d Eifediyi warned of the devastating consequences of substance abuse on individuals and society at large.<\/p>\n

According to her, drug abuse can lead to various mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a society, we are losing our workforce. We import people to do jobs we are capable of handling ourselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also contributes to family breakdown, financial hardship, lack of education, and unemployment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eifediyi listed commonly abused substances including cannabis, tramadol, codeine, methamphetamine, and dangerous synthetic opioids like \u201ckush\u201d and nitazenes.<\/p>\n

She called for a united response from stakeholders to combat the crisis, reiterating: \u201cDrug abusers are not criminals, they are victims who need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cParents must be more involved in their children\u2019s lives, know their friends, and listen to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw enforcement must clamp down on traffickers and the outlets distributing drugs to young people,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. A counselling psychologist, Dr. Gloria Eifediyi, has raised concerns over the rising rate of drug and substance abuse in Nigeria, particularly among young people. Eifediyi, who works at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo, spoke during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos State. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":168592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254,3502],"class_list":["post-168593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian-youths"],"yoast_head":"\nPsychologist Warns of Increasing Drug Abuse in Youth - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A counselling psychologist, Dr. Gloria Eifediyi, has raised concerns over the rising rate of drug and substance abuse in ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Psychologist Warns of Increasing Drug Abuse in Youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A counselling psychologist, Dr. Gloria Eifediyi, has raised concerns over the rising rate of drug and substance abuse in ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-06T11:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-06T12:23:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1751792122.06782.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"673\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Psychologist Warns of Increasing Drug Abuse in Youth\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-06T11:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-06T12:23:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\"},\"wordCount\":253,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1751792122.06782.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"nigerian youths\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/psychologist-warns-of-increasing-drug-abuse-in-youth\",\"name\":\"Psychologist Warns of Increasing Drug Abuse in Youth - 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