The World Health Organization has shown in a report that Nigeria introduces a low in the use of cocaine, tobacco, cannabis and alcohol use. According to a study fewer Nigerians reported that they had used cannabis, cocaine, tobacco and alcohol in their lifetime.

Among the 17 countries surveyed, only 17 per cent of Nigerians reported the use of alcohol in their lifetime. This is the lowest percentage by any of the countries. Researchers found that lifetime tobacco use is most common in the US (74 per cent), Lebanon (67 per cent), Mexico (60 per cent), and in some European countries (Netherlands, 58 per cent; Ukraine, 60 per cent), with by far the lowest proportions in the African countries (South Africa, 32 per cent; Nigeria, 17 per cent).

While the survey also described cocaine use among respondents from countries in the Middle East, Africa (represented by Nigeria and South Africa) as "extremely low proportions," it said that the US had the highest number of respondents who had used cocaine.

According to this research, the proportions of respondents who ever used cannabis were highest in the US (42 per cent) and New Zealand (42 per cent), whereas lifetime cannabis use was virtually nonexistent in the Asian countries.

The anti-smoking researchers found that the Nigerians did not use tobacco until when they attained 21 while those who had used cannabis said they never used it until when they were 22 years. Compared to other countries, Nigerian respondents did not have early contact with tobacco and cannabis.

Nigeria, with 7 per cent, had the smallest proportion of respondents who had started using tobacco smoking by age 15. This was closely followed by Israel (9 per cent), South Africa (11 per cent) and Colombia (12 per cent).

The researchers interviewed 85,052 smokers from 17 countries. The countries were Colombia; Mexico; United States; Belgium; France; Germany; Italy; Netherlands; Spain; Ukraine; Israel; Lebanon; Nigeria; South Africa; Japan; People’s Republic of China and New Zealand.

Participants were asked whether they had ever used alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, or cocaine.

The survey discovered that countries with strict policies towards illegal drug use often had higher levels of such drug use than countries with more liberal policies. They found that males are more likely than females and younger adults are more likely than older to use all the drugs mentioned in the survey.