Marijuana abuse is said to be one of the commonest substance adopted by
young people in recent times, particularly in Nigeria. More worrisome is
the peculiar sociological and socio-economic problems youth find
themselves in, as a result of indulgence in Marijuana use, such as
reckless sexual activities, rape, murder, idleness, restlessness,
interference with academic and vocational career, mental and physical
health disorder leading to socio-economic incapacitation and economic
dependency. This research, therefore, set out to study the communication
approaches of the Samaru Skills Development Centre (SDC) as one of the
Organizations that has been part of the Marijuana intervention among the
youth in Sabon-Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The
objectives of this research were to identify factors that stimulate
youth into Marijuana abuse and the attendant implications to their
developmentto examine the communication approaches of the Skill
Development Centre and their effectiveness for positive behaviour change
among youth. The research deployed Paulo Freire's (1970) Theory of
Dialogic Communication and Action. It is a normative theory of
participatory communication that asserts that communication is ideally a
dialogue that leads to expanded consciousness and power to deconstruct
social contexts. The qualitative approach of research was employed with a
purposive sampling technique and sample size of 39 discussants,
comprising relevant stakeholders of the selected community, trainees and
trainers as well as volunteer staff.The instruments for data collection
include the Focus Group Discussion, Key Informant Interview and
Documentary Observation. The findings of the study revealed that,lack of
parental care, poverty, peer group pressure, inadequate information and
environmental influence are the reasons for Marijuana abuse among
youth. It was also discovered that, the skills development approach is
the most utilized communication strategy adopted by the Organization
while skills are mostly imposed on target audience (trainees). It
further revealed that some of the Community Based Organisations and
target audience are not included in the whole processes of the
intervention programme.Consequently, the study recommends the use of
inclusive communication approaches and effective partnership with other
multi-disciplinary bodies, such as Health promoters, psychologists,
Counsellors, Development Communicators, Technical experts and a host of
others to enhance.Facilities and equipment should be made available for
effective skills training,because the skills development is the major
communication strategy SDC utilizes and is perceivedas asubstitute
technique of engaging youths against psychoactive substance (Marijuana).