Publication Details
Abstract
This study looks at the challenges of fighting drug abuse among public secondary school students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. It also examines what school principals can do to solve this problem. Drug abuse among young people is a major worry in Nigeria because it hurts students' grades, behavior, health, and school discipline. This paper uses a mixed approach. First, it uses an empirical survey method. We collected data from 185 teachers and school leaders in FCT public secondary schools using a structured questionnaire called the Challenges and Strategies for Combating Drug Abuse Questionnaire (CSCDAQ). The results show that peer pressure, poor parental supervision, easy access to drugs, poverty, lack of school counselors, social media, and weak school rules are the biggest challenges. To fight this, principals must use better counseling, work with parents and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), enforce rules strictly, and run awareness campaigns. Second, this paper provides a deep philosophical and ethical study of the term "drug abuse". We argue that "drug abuse" is not a neutral scientific word. Instead, it is a value-loaded concept based on moral judgments about human choice, duty, harm, and society. By looking at Western ethical frameworks—such as duty-based ethics, outcome-based ethics, character ethics, and care ethics—and tracing the history of drug use from ancient times to today, we show that every era defines drug abuse based on its own religious and political beliefs. The paper concludes that to truly address drug abuse in Nigerian schools and society, we must avoid pure punishment and simple medical views. Instead, we need a fair approach that respects human dignity, addresses poverty and unfair social systems, and treats human suffering with care.