On A Method of Estimating the Hidden Population of Drug Addicts

The consumption of drugs like Tramadol, skutches, Skunk, Loud and Indian hemp are illegal in Nigeria and
the increasing addiction of youth to drugs of different forms is very evident in the society. This trend is of
great concern with no effective approach to deal with the problem primarily because it involves a hidden
population. This study considered the estimation of the hidden population size of drug addicts in Ekiti state,
Nigeria between 2015 and 2016, using Capture-Recapture (C-R) method. Two data sources namely National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and psychiatric unit of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital
(EKSUTH) were used and The lists of individuals collected from the two data sources were used to estimate
the population size by identifying the number of individuals that appeared in one or two of these lists.
Results showed that the estimated hidden population size of drug addicts in Ekiti State during the study
period is 201 leading to the total population of 558 with a 95% confidence interval (486, 636).