Drug Abuse and the Menace of Juvenile Delinquency among Youths in Ethiope- West Local Government Area Delta State, Nigeria

The study examined drug abuse and it relationship with the menace of juvenile delinquency in Nigeria society using Ethiope-West Local Government Area Delta State as a case study. The participants in this study were 300 respondents of both male and female that were purposively selected from eight communities that were selected from Ethiope West Local Government Area for the research purpose. Cross-sectional research design was adopted. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of data. The study utilized Labelling and Differential Association theories as its theoretical framework. The study discovered that social demographic characteristics of respondents does not correlate with drug abuse, that the social cost of drug abuse is unimaginable; it causes road accident, violent conflict, mental problems, among other. Also that, the nature of drug correlates with the pattern of consumption and that most drug addicts are recruited by people in authority to cause mayhem in society.

The study concludes that there is an association between nature of drugs and pattern of consumption, and there exist a relationship between drug abuse and violent conflict experience among youths in the study area.

The study recommends politicians to stop patronizing drug addicts as thugs during and after elections that NDLEA should be responsible in this regard to meet up with their expected duties in dynamic society.