Substance Use by Young Male Causal Labourers in A Malawi Roadside Market

Background and Rationale: Using an ecological perspective, this study examined how a rural roadside market influences substance use by young male casual labourers. No previous works have explored the ways in which this setting influences substance use.

Purpose: To describe  how a rural Malawian market influences substance use among young casual labourers.

Method: We conducted an ethnographic study where we directly observed the market setting and conducted 15 in-depth interviews in Chichewa with young men who work at the market. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed and translated into English. Analysis was done using constant comperative method.

Results: Casual labour involves loading and off loading heavy goods and receiving payments daily. In the market, alcohol and marijuana  are readily available in both large and small quantities 24 hours a day. Nearly all the young men  share the belief that lifters of heavy market goods require alcohol or marijuana as an energizer. Young men agreed that most casual labourers use substances at the market. With young men earning money daily, they have easy access to alcohol and marijuana sold within the market in whatever quantity they can afford. Many young men come to this market without their families or spouses so they have little guidance and few alternative entertainments, leading them to drink and use marijuana with peers. Most young men have little understanding of the physical and mental negative health effects of daily intake of these substances.

Discussion and Conclusion: Even though the government of Malawi recognizes substance use to be risky, especially to younger people, substance use prevention programs have not been extended to the market places. Although this market  is well organized in its economic activities, there is little support, supervision or non-risky social activities that could substitute for drug and alcohol use.Thus, substance risk reduction programs should target these environmental issues as well as individual risky behaviors.