Alcohol is commonly abused and constitutes a major challenge to people’s health. Its availability makes it a drug of choice for young people to abuse. This study was designed to examine the prevalence, risk factors and perceived effects of alcohol use among young people in Oyo state. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design to study 384 young people, who were selected with a multi-stage sampling technique. Data was gathered with a structured questionnaire after its validity and reliability have been established and analysed with SPSS version 23. Findings revealed high prevalence of alcohol use both for the ever (74%) and current (66.6%) use. Alcohol intake in form of mixture with local herbs (81.2%) is the most common followed by gin and other hot drink (80.2%). The most important risk factors documented were peer influence (85.4%), easy access (63.5%) and parental influence (54.1%). Thinking less about problems (91.6%), sleep disturbance (80.2%), depression (70.8%) and euphoria (70.8%) were the common perceived psychological effects of alcohol identified by the respondents while getting into trouble (85.4%) and increased propensity to perpetuate rape (74.0%) were prominent social effects, perceived by the respondents. Therefore, preventive measures and strong public control policy is essential to curb this emerging menace
Keywords: Oyo State, Rural Area, alcohol use, perceived alcohol effects
