SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND DRUG ADDICTION; THE RISING TREND AMONGST HEALTH PRACTITIONERS
By Mbamalu Chinelo
Inadequate awareness and perception of substance abuse and drug addiction are deficient in a developing country like Nigeria. Ironically, at the forefront of this battle, health professionals are being caught in the web. Substance abuse, according to WHO, refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol, pain medications, and illicit drugs, leading to financial, social, emotional, physical, and mental harm. Substance abuse differs from addiction — a disease that causes compulsive use despite its harm, but can lead to addiction.
Addiction is a neuropsychological condition that causes an inability to stop using a substance or engage in behaviour even though it is causing psychological and physical harm. There is substance and non-substance addiction.
Drug addiction, also known as substance use disorder, is a disease that affects a person’s brain and behaviour and leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal drug or medication. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2021 World Drug Report, almost 275 million individuals took drugs in the previous year, with over 36 million suffering from drug use disorders (UNODC). Reports by the Addiction Center USA puts it that “Doctors and nurses account for some of the highest rates of addiction in the workforce. According to USA Today, “More than 100,000 doctors, nurses, technicians, and other health professionals struggle with abuse or addiction, mostly involving narcotics such as Oxycodone and Fentanyl.”
It is a stab in the back that pharmacists who are to lead the campaign against this menace are also towing this trend of substance abuse, which is a time bomb waiting to explode. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine informed me about a colleague admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre; it was pretty disturbing because this was a pharmacist that did his internship in neuropsychiatric hospital; one would ought to have believe that such a pharmacist would have the right perception about substance abuse having been exposed to lots of cases. Till today there have been no finite reasons why health professional abuse drugs but several promising theories have been presented. One such theory suggests that increased access to prescription drugs contributes to higher rates of misuse and dependence.
REASONS FOR DRUG ABUSE AMONGST HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
- Unpredictable and exhausting work hours
- Depression
- Accessibility to drugs
- Patient’s death
THE FOLLOWING ARE COMMON INDICATIONS OF ADDICTION HEALTH PROFESSIONALS:
- Prefer night shifts since there is less monitoring and more medicine available.
- Sleeping on the job or in the middle of a shift
- Volunteering to provide narcotics to patients regularly
- Anxiety about working extra shifts or overtime
- Taking numerous bathroom breaks or missing work for no apparent reason
- Having an alcoholic odour or using breath mints or mouthwash excessively.
- Financial, relationship, or familial stress at an all-time high
- Small pupils or glassy eyes
- Incomplete charting or a pattern of paperwork errors.
MOST COMMONLY ABUSED SUBSTANCES
- Alcohol
- Marijuana
- Prescription medicines like pain pills, anxiety pills and stimulant pills
- Methamphetamine
- Cocaine
- Opiates
- Hallucinogens
- Solvents like aerosols, glue etc.
TREATMENT
Drug abusers and drug addicts can be helped through behavioural therapy rehabilitation and support groups like Alcohol Anonymous (AA)meetings, Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings, and treatments with medications to help reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
There are a handful of places in Nigeria where AA meetings are held. The majority are in Lagos, which lacks support groups for recovering alcoholics, users and addicts. There are rehab centres in Lagos and Abuja and a few in Owerri, Ibadan, Anambra, Niger and Rivers.
There are only eight government-owned psychiatric hospitals in Nigeria. The majorities of rehabilitation centres in Nigeria are run by private or religious groups and are widely accepted by the medical community. They meet a need the government is failing to address. However, although most operate under international standards of drug-use prevention, patients in these centres are usually expected to participate in religious worship.
The following are some of the issues that addiction treatment for medical professionals may address:
- Getting your career and reputation back on track
- Returning to work as a professional
- Taking care of licensing and disciplinary issues
- Keeping possible triggers at bay both within and outside the office
- Monitoring programs participation
- Continuing to provide aftercare
Links for rehab centres in Nigeria
As we mark another World Mental Awareness month, this may it is an opportunity to look into this subject again and take a bold stand to say NO TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE and send a call to the government to make the work environment in the health sector a friendly one.
