Ashutosh Khanna
Drug addiction is psychiatric, psychological and social problem affecting the youth of the country. It ruins the individual and the society manifold ways-socially, physically, culturally, emotionally and economically. Acting on the brain, the drug spawns a wide range of disorders like fear, anxiety and a sense of insecurity in the human mind.
There are certain drugs like nicotine, cocaine and caffeine that stimulate the brain and the nervous system resulting in increased alertness and response. Addiction to such drugs causes a severe loss of appetite and weight, constipation, increased anxiety and irritability, sleeplessness and gradual impairment of intellectual functioning. There are sedative drugs like opium, morphine, heroin, codeine that slows down the activities of the individual and make the brain and nervous system dull. Consequently, they aroused as pain relievers and sleep inducers and be classified as narcotics and hypnotic. The hypnotic drugs include barbiturates. Addiction to narcotics causes loss of appetite and weight constipation, loss of sexual desire and declining interest in sociability. Barbiturates and other hypnotic drugs affect the brain, thereby triggering intellectual impairment and motor malfunctioning. The sudden withdrawal complications like restlessness, nervousness, excessive perspiration, nausea, severe headache and painful muscular cramps. Withdrawal of hypnotic drug might lead to epileptic seizures and delirium.
Such dangerous conditions as marked confusion, distortion in thought process, illusions and certain mind-blowing drugs cause hallucinations. The victim presumes that this efficiency has increased whereas the hard fact is that the addict’s intellectual and motor functioning has really been impaired. The false sense of ”all is well” could set in instances of rash driving and many forms of socially unacceptable behavior. Certain addicts go in for intravenous injection of methamphetamine that can affect both brain and the heart. Drugs can reduce cognitive operations, making it difficult for the youth to develop a functional set of values and ideals. Reduced cognitive efficiency lead poor academic performance and a decline in self – esteem, contributing to disturbance in personality growth. When a man starts drug addiction, he becomes addicted to it forever and goes on increasing its dose. In the first phase of drug addiction his brain cells become irritated and his faculties of rationality i.e. Judgment, observation and attention gets blunted and he becomes the victim of sub – clinical stage. In the second phase, the addict feels as if he is not aware of his own self and such as psychic, third phase, as the victim increases the dosage and the frequency, he loses his physical balance and muscular coordination. The addict is now a prisoner of confusion and is fast digging his own grave. Drug addiction distorts family ties and causes family disorganization and, creating marital discord, divorce and the socialization failure of children. It also shatters the codes of normal values, which create value shock. In due course the addict gets alienated from the mainstream of family, neighborhood and society.
Initially, it may be for just fun or kicks or some imagined mystic experiences. Some take drugs just to seek company or break boredom. Stress is an all – consuming fire of the modern competitive world and not many are of tough mould that can cope with one crisis after other. They let off the stream through smoking or liquor; the spiritually minded read scriptures, go to temples or take to meditation or prayers to tackle the daily stresses ‘and strains of life. And those who do not belong to any of these categories take shelter in the world of drugs. The highly competitive and success oriented style of living creates many problems for a large number of young people. There are others who use drugs to free themselves from their inhibitions and some turn to drugs because of the stab of guilt, shame, gnawing anxiety or disappointment in life. For most of them drug is the only safety valve.
There is definitely a solution to curb such a serious problem, which has engulfed the youth of today. If the families affected, the community, social workers, NGO’s the media and the government agencies work in tandem and in a complementary role, with the addicts co-operating with them, there is hope for lakhs of youth gone astray. They could turn over a new leaf in their benighted life. They can see light at the end of the tunnel and re-join the mainstream of ten years ago, a survey revealed that there were around seven lakh drug addicts in the country, with more than a lakh in the metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Pune alone. Now the figure must be very high. Studies conducted everywhere underline the indisputable fact that the roots of deviation and delinquency can be traced to such phenomenon as broken homes, unemployment, alcoholism of the father, the gross neglect of children at the hands of parents and their slow and steady alienation from parents and other members of the society. Many of the youngsters are not gusty and strong-willed enough to brave the choppy waters of today’s tempestuous life and they try to run away from themselves by smoking marijuana and taking other drugs. No man is an island and everyone per see is a victim of and social circumstances. So, let’s start the reform from home, the family, the school, the college and the neighborhood. The parents should take care of their children, sparing more time for them and spending more time with them. The child craves for more care and love from modern – day parents who are neck – deep in their own pretty ambitions of making more and more money for their children and who can spend very little of their time can hardly reconcile to the fact that their loved ones can never ever willy – nilly drift into addiction. And by the time, parents realize their folly, it might be too late. At the other extreme, to the poor surviving in the festering slums in our big cities, there is hardly anyway to look forward to on the horizon. The call of the peddler and pusher of drugs shows a way out of despair, temporary though. It is estimated that an overwhelming majority of smack users in the mega cities of Mumbai and Delhi belonged to the underprivileged sections of the society.
Society on its part should also feel responsible towards the menace and help the government in eradicating it. The family being the basic unit of the society has a major role to play. Parents should make a concerted effort towards the development of their children. According to one estimate, children are prone to drugs during the onset of adolescence whey confront emotional and physical changes. During this period, parents should befriend their children and guide them. They should also give them stern warning against drugs, followed by certain reasons for doing so. They should also help their children to build self-confidence in them. The Non- Governmental organizations like the Narcotics Anonymous give counselling and treatments to several drugs abusers and restore their shattered lives. The family, friends and relatives of the patient should effectively contribute towards the rehabilitation.
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