African Journal of Drug & Alcohol Studies, 17(2), 2018
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
African Journal of Drug & Alcohol Studies, 17(2), 2018 Copyright © 2018, CRISA Publications COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURAL PRACTICES AND BELIEF SYSTEMS INFLUENCING ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN ANAANG COMMUNITY, NIGERIA Nsidibe A. Usoro1, Dorothy N. Ononokpono2, Ursula Ette3, & Nkereuwem N. James4 1,2Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria; 3Ministry of Health, Akwa Ibom State, Uyo, Nigeria; 4Department of Establishments, Akwa Ibom State, Uyo, Nigeria ABSTRACT Alcohol and drug use are socially sewn into cultural practices and belief systems in societies. This has been the case with Anaang community. This qualitative study examined narratives in a natural setting to gain insights on cultural practices relating to alcohol and drug use in Anaang society. The methods of study were participant observation and in-depth interview with 80 participants. The study found that some cultural activities harbour causal factors to alcohol use. Majority of participants reported using alcohol in conformity with societal norms and values. Participants differed in opinion concerning drug use. Some confessed using drugs out of personal conviction. Conversely, a good proportion of participants believed that cultural practices and belief system have either overtly or covertly lured them into drug use. Participants unanimously identified low literacy rates, ignorance and lack of effective regulatory mechanism as precursors to alcohol and drug use in local communities. This study mediated through Anaang cultural practices and belief system to derive informed insights that are needful for designing culture-sensitive-programme of preventive intervention for alcohol and drug use in local communities in Nigeria. INTRODUCTION for medical and scientific use, while re- ducing the elicit use of narcotic drugs and The world drug problem remains a psychotropic substances(Common Afri- common and shared responsibility that can Position [CAP] for the UN General As- requires effective and increased inter- sembly Special Session on the World Drug national cooperation and demands an Problem, 2016). integrated, multidisciplinary, mutually Globally, alcohol use and misuse ac- reinforcing and balanced approach to count for 3.3 million deaths every year, or drug supply, demand reduction and harm 6percent of all deaths (Sudhinaraset, Wig- reduction strategies, as well as ensuring glesworth & Takeuchi, 2016). The debilitat- the availability of controlled substances ing effects of alcohol and drug misuse are USORO ET AL. not only complex but far reaching, ranging Binge drinking is conceptualized here from individual health risks, mortality, mor- as the number of instances in the past bidity and many other unpleasant conse- 12months that women drank 4 or more quences for family, friends, associates and drinks and men drank 5 or more drinks the society at large. Many researches and within a 2-hour period (Sudhinaraset, studies on alcohol and drug abuse seem et al. 2016). Among racial and ethnic to have a dedicated focus on risk factors, groups, researches have shown that, from the societal perspectives down to the Whites report the highest overall al- individual level (Sudhinaraset et al. 2016). cohol use among persons age 12 and According to a report from World Health over(57.4 percent). American Indian/ Organization[WHO] report, cited in Center Alaska Natives report the highest lev- for Disease Control and Prevention(2014), els of binge drinking (30.2percent), fol- Worldwide, 3.3million deaths were at- lowed by Whites (23.9percent), Hispanic/ tributed to alcohol misuse in 2012. Exces- Latinos(23.2percent), African American sive alcohol use is the third leading cause (20.6 percent), and Asians (12.7percent) of death in the United States, accounting (SAMHSA, 2013). for 88,000 deaths per year. Alcohol-attrib- Asians, on the other hand, generally utable disease and injury are responsible are thought to have higher abstention for an estimated 4percent of mortality and rates compared with other racial and 4 to 5 percent of disability-adjusted life- ethnic groups, especially when they are years[DALYs] (Rehm and Popova, 2009). integrated within their ethnic cultures In the United States alone, the costs of (Cook, Mulia & Karriker-Jaffe, 2012). One excessive alcohol use were estimated at measure of the retention of ethnic values $223.5billion in 2006 or $746 per person and cultural norms is generation status. (Bouchery, Harwood & Sacks, J. 2011). That is, the longer immigrants have lived Much of these costs accounted for dwin- in the United States, the more likely they dling productivity at work place as well are to acculturate to the cultural norms of as health care expenses, criminal justice their destination community (Berry, Phin- involvement and motor vehicle crashes ney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). Lower levels (Rehm et al. 2009). Sudhinaraset, et al. of ethnic identity may be one explana- (2016) reported that alcohol consumption tion for these differences across Asian varies across gender, race or ethnic incli- subgroups. Japanese Americans, Filipino nation. Across the world, men consumed Americans, and Korean Americans often more alcohol than women, and women have been in the United States longer in more developed countries drink more than other Asian subgroups, such as Cam- than women in developing countries. bodians, Thais, and Vietnamese, and also American men are much more likely than report higher levels of alcohol use com- women to use alcohol (56.5percent Vs pared with other Asian Americans and 47.9 percent respectively, to binge drink Asian immigrants (Iwamoto, Takamatsu (30.4percent Vs 16percent respectively) & Castellanos, 2012). Ethnic identity may and to report heavy drinking (9.9percent promote stronger family values and tra- Vs 3.4 percent, respectively) (Substance ditional ties, leading to lower levels of Abuse and Mental Health Services Ad- alcohol use. Moreover, Asian-American ministration [SAMSHA], 2013). adolescents who have a high attachment 148 COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES ON ALCOHOL AND DRUGS to family or who share their family’s neg- regional hot spots and having emphasized ative attitudes toward drinking are less hot-button topics such as HIV AIDS, ma- likely to consume alcohol (Hahm,, Lahiff, laria, and lagging agricultural production, & Guterman, 2003). Carson turned his attention to a topic Scholars have amply documented Afri- that he reminded his audience would not can drinking practices. The history of drug have been included on his list of “African use is much less studied, but in the recent problems” a decade or even five years past at least illicit drug use has become ago (Marry, 2016). Addressing a large au- ubiquitous in many African societies. And dience at the African Studies Association the fact is that African fiction and auto- meeting in Washington in mid-November, biography are awash in alcohol—and in- Carson, who has had a long career at State creasingly provide rich accounts of local and was formerly Ambassador to Kenya, drug cultures as well (Marry, 2016). In a Zimbabwe and Uganda, reminded fellow panel on “Drugs in Africa” at the African Africanists that a claimed 40% of illicit Studies Association annual meeting in drugs interdicted in Europe had passed Washington, DC in November, Donna Pat- through West Africa. What is a major is- terson, a historian in the Department of sue for Europe and the USA must there- Africana Studies at College, presented a fore become a major issue for Africa. paper on “Drug Trafficking in Africa: His- All of the focus on Guinea Bissau as torical Cases from West Africa,” which the first African narcostate has tended to in contrast to other papers on the panel distract us—according to Carson—from looked at the commerce in legal pharma- a much broader and growing pattern of ceuticals. The discussion that followed drug trafficking throughout Africa. Al- made clear the value of exploring the though Guinea Bissau may provide a dra- histories “legal” and “illegal” drugs in matic tale of high level politicians in the conjunction one with the other—some- thrall of global drug lords gunning each thing that has rarely been done for Africa, other down in the ramshackle capital of where the focus has been much more on a marginal state, the drug trade routes understanding the linkages between “tra- run through virtually every West African ditional” and Western medicine. At the country and certainly through Sénégal, same time, the discussion led us to con- Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and especially Nige- sider how those very linkages might in- ria—which has been a nexus of trafficking form our understanding of the trade and and drug gangs that spread across five consumption of various kinds of drugs— continents through networks that reach however categorized—in African societ- across the Indian Ocean as well as the ies. Are Africans simply more abstemi- Atlantic. Unsurprisingly, Carson made the ous? This is hardly the case (Marry, 2016). case for US official support for efforts in In a recent talk on “African Issues” and African countries to combat the trade. US policy on those issues, Assistant Secre- Again unsurprisingly, he talked exclusively tary of State for African Affairs, Ambassa- about the need to provide moral, material dor Johnnie Carson, chose to conclude by and training support to the USA’s African stressing the growing challenge of drug 13allies in a global war on drugs. trafficking in Africa. Having discussed de- The literature on community influ- mocratization,