Use of energy-enhancing drugs among farm labourers in rural communities of Lagos state, Nigeria

Abstract

The use of drug to enhance energy for performance boosting among rural farm labourers is unfortunately a socio-economic issue of concern nowadays. This research was carried out in Two (2) Local Government Areas of Lagos state (Epe and Ikorodu). A total of 161 respondents were considered for the study. A structured questionnaire was developed to extract the necessary information from the respondents. It was observed that majority (73.9%) of the respondents are males and are mostly (42.9%) between the ages of 21-30. Planting activities (W.M. S= 2.74), land clearing (W.M. S= 2.66) and harvesting (W.M. S= 2.56) were farm labour activities engaged in mostly by the respondents. Drugs such as paracetamol (W.M. S= 2.95), Panadol-extra (W.M. S= 2.76), and Tramadol (W.M. S= 2.74) were the most consumed drugs by the respondents respectively. Chi-square Test of relationship showed that there is no significant relationship between the use of Energy Enhancing Drugs (E.E. Ds) and personal characteristics such as Age, Sex, and level of education with a p-value of 0.2813, 0.2914, 0.37 respectively. Primary occupation of the respondents had a significant relationship with the use of E.E. Ds with a p-value of 0.000. Also, there is a significant difference in the use of energy enhancing drugs for farm activities among farm labourers. It was concluded that majority of farm labourers are young male adults who engaged in the use of E.E. Ds to enhance their performance which made them weaken and eventually leading to poor labour output and economic condition of the rural communities. It is therefore recommended that supply of E.E.Ds to rural communities be monitored and enlightened by the concerned authority.