A TRUE LIFE STORY
Charles was a friend, but the last time I saw him was when he came back home to reunite with his old poverty-stricken mom. Everybody on the street was happy hearing the news of his transformation, but later on, story had it that he was later killed by his other addict gang when revisiting the slum he lived before he was discovered and transformed by the “rehab” people. His re-visitation was for positive mission in which he could use his new status to lure some of his addict friends to a new life he enjoyed.
However, his straying started when he lost his father, who is the only benefactor to the family, at the tender age. While other children were in school Charles was on the street hawking. Through this means he was initiated and eventually left his mother into the street. The death of Charles was touchy and called for sober reflections among peoples in the neighbourhoods. I come to a conclusion that life may be unfortunately miserable at time.
IMAGE1: FORMS OF DRUG
INTRODUCTION
However, drug abuse and addiction is a public health menace all around the globe. Adolescents are becoming the major vulnerable in Nigeria and other parts of the continents, even in your own country as you are going through this article. The youngsters can either be initiated easily or partly when involved in drug trading in which they mostly lost their lives. In some countries, both in some parts of Africa and southern America the drug lords hijack the political, social and economic aspects of these countries because they become too powerful due to the huge resources they control and let the up-coming adolescents see life not beyond drug business.
In school, students that do take drugs are being regarded as stronger, tougher and bolder by their peers; those that have low self-esteem fall into the web of drug abusers in order to be socially accepted by their peers, and some do drug in order for drive to heighten pleasures, coping with depression, curiosity, friend-do-it, sexual prowess, sport performance, enjoyment of social gathering, sound sleep, strive to pass examine and initiation to social class within the school.
IMAGE2: DRUG ABUSE IN KANO (NORTHERN PART OF NIGERIA)
Some school-going adolescents and teenagers have becoming affected, even addicted; thereby leading to insanity, maiming, street roaming, sentence to a life of delinquency, several maladjustments in school programmes and even dropping out of schools and premature death. Students that are addicted to marijuana in secondary in Nigeria are used to be indiscipline and confronting their tutors. Therefore, drug abuse has no bound to social class and it destroys the development of any society by being a threat to dignity, prosperity, life and health.
IMAGE3: DRUG SMOKING HIDEOUT FOR SOME ADOLESCENTS
This event above may take different dimensions including
I. When parents have no time to supervise their children
II. When parents have no or little time for interaction with their family members
III. When parents do with pressurizing their children to pass exams or perform much better in their studies
IV. Divorce
V. Non-chastisement of youngsters and
VI. Some social laws on child-abuse that prevents child chastisement etc.
Therefore, when parents start detecting in their child the following signs:
i. He/she possesses drug related assorted objects (I.e paraphernalia) including small respiratory drugs, rolling paper and pipes,
ii. He/she keeps drugs, seeds of leaves, special plants in containers for cigarette ash (i.e ashtrays) or pockets of his/her clothes,
iii. His/her clothes start exuding smell of special incense, odours of drugs and other cover up scents,
He/she starts harbouring drug-related magazines, having slogans on his/her clothes and showing hostility when discussing drugs,
iv. He/she begins to display distorted memory, difficulty in concentration, poor physical coordination and short attention span,
v. Their child always starts looking unhealthy in appearance, having dilated pupils, bloodshot eyes and incoherent speech,
vi. His/her behaviour drastically changed by having any of increased absenteeism, chronic dishonesty, stealing, lying, change in friends, cheating, law enforcement or police issues, increased and wrong hostility, anger and irritability, and
reduced self-discipline, motivation, self-esteem and drive.
Any parent should start suspecting his/her child has started taking drugs if he/she detects two or more of these aforementioned signs.
What is Drug Abuse?
Logically, the use of drug correctly administered under medical prescription is a blessing and beneficial. But, paradoxically, chronic use of drugs is deleterious and detrimental.
Therefore, drug is referred to a food or substance that causes changes such as psychological (i.e perception and cognition), physiological (i.e behaviour, mood and general body functions) and psycho-social changes of a person due to its chemical structures and biotransformation of the drugs by the liver.
Drug Abuse is the excessive, chronic or persistent, maladaptive or addictive and or self-administration of drug for non-medical purpose. Drug addiction is a state whereby someone is psycho-socially, psychologically and physiologically dependent on harmful drugs.
Abused Drugs can be in tablets, liquid, syrup and powdery forms
The illegal drugs are taken into the body system through injection by syringe, applying to food, sniffing and smoking.
The rate at which a person becomes addicted to drug depends on the
(i) type of drugs used, (ii) amount of drug used (iv) duration of drug usage and (iii) pattern of drug usage.
A person is said to abuse drug use when
(i) the drug is not for medical purpose, (ii) the drug is culturally or ethically unacceptable, (iii) the drug is self-prescribed without medical knowledge and (iv) the drug is legally prohibited.
It is not only adolescents or teenagers that abuse drugs but also house wives, married and unmarried adults and old people, as well as rich peoples and their children, police officers, NDLEA agents, musicians and even pregnant women. Thus, anybody can abuse drug unknowingly or knowingly depending the person falls into the aforementioned four categories.
IMAGE4: MARRIED AND SINGLE WOMEN WITH DRUG ADDICTION
What are the categories of drug that are being abused?
1.Stimulants: These are caffeine, crack-cocaine, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, MDMA, Amphetamines, Methylphenidate, Coca, Nicotine and tea substances. They stimulate the brains and spinal cords (CNS). They are used because of their pleasant effect (i.e increased energy).
2.Hallucinogens: Include marijuana (street names: India hemp and cannabis), LSD or d-lysergic acid diethylamide, Psilocybin, Salvia divinorum, PCP and Peyote etc. They stimulate the sensory process unit of the brain. They are used because of the belief that they bring inner joy. Other effects are distorted perception, sadness, and feeling of anxiety and euphoria.
3.Narcotics: These are Tramadol, Carfentanil, codeines, Meperidine, oxycodone, Fentanyl, Methadone, hydrocodone, heroines and opium. They are used because they kill pains and cause drowsiness and sleeping. They block pain receptors in the brain, thereby weakening the user's sense of feeling pains.
4.Sedatives: They include alcohol, barbiturates, Amytal, chloroform, Seconal, promotazine, Numbutal, benzodiazepines, valium. They are used because they believed they help users to forget problem, relieve anxiety and stress, and finally cause sleeping and relaxation since they slow down brain activity. They slow down brain function or depress the brain.
5.Tranquilizers: They are in the categories of Seroquel, Librium, Zyprexa, Valium and Haldol etc. They are usedbecause of the belief that they cause calmness without drowsiness. They slow down brain function or depress the brain.
6.Miscellaneous: They are volatile solvents and inhalants and include tube repair, paint thinners, glues, perfumes, spot removers, odours from suck-away, petrol odours, chemicals etc.They are utilized because they believe that they produce extreme happiness (i.e euphoria) and strong emotion. they act on the brain to cause mind-altering effects and intoxication, as well as other forms of brain effect similar to any of the aforementioned five.
IMAGE5:THE BRAIN SECTION OF THE DRUG ABUSE PATIENT LACKING ENOUGH PERFUSED BLOOD (YELLOW COLOUR)AND NORMAL PATIENT WITH ENOUGH PERFUSED BLOOD (RED COLOUR).
IMAGE 6: SCHEMATICS OF SOME STRUCTURES OF DRUGS BEING ABUSED.
What are the theories underlying Drug Abuse?
1. Learning Theory of Drug Abuse: Came as result of all forms of learning such as social learning, instrumental learning and conditional learning.
2.Personality Theory of Drug Abuse: Came as a result of certain innate characters in someone such as low tolerance to frustration, poor impulse control, poor coping ability, high emotion dependence on other people, low self-esteem and inability to delay frustration.
3.Socio-cultural theory of Drug Abuse: When some drugs are used as cultural item or are socio-culturally accepted. For example in Nigeria, Ogogoro (i.e local dry gin) and Cigarettes smoking are accepted in southern and northern parts of the country respectively.
4.Biological Thoery of Drug Abuse: Came owing to genetic make-up of some persons (i.e poor drug metabolizer) that cause them to be vulnerable because they have to take a particular drug at a high dose before working for them, by so doing causing these people to be addicted over time.
What are the other causes of Drug Abuse apart from failure on the part of the parents?
1. The curiosity to experiment the use of harmful drugs
2. The influence due to peer pressure as children want to be independent of their parent but dependent on their mates as they grow and want to be accepted into social group.
3. The effect of socio-economic status such as poverty, unemployment and broken marriages that throw adolescents into the street, roaming aimlessly, begging and hawking etc, in the process becomes initiated.
4. The need for power to work for longer time as for those teenage doing menial works.
5. Indiscriminate selling and availability of drugs.
6 Inability of addicts to suppress occurrence of withdrawal syndrome (i.e urges the users had after stopping drug use).
Why are Drug Abuses and Addictions dangerous?
1. Alcohol Abuse: can cause
(a) Pathological effects including peptic and pancreatic ulcer, liver cirrhosis, tuberculosis, hypertension, and neurological disorder;
(b) Psychological effects such as deficiency and delayed motor development, and mental retardation of foetus,
(c) Physical effects like limb abnormality, craniofacial abnormality and cardiac defects,
(d) Psychiatric effects such as pathological drunkenness and suicide behaviour, and
(e) Socially broken effects including increase in sexual offences, crime rate, sexual infectious diseases and homicide.
2. Stimulants: can lead to exaggerated self-confidence, sleeplessness, lethargy, damage to lining of the nose, irritability and psychiatric complication,
*3.Tobacco:cause hypertension, cancer, bronchitis, strokes, heart attack, sinusitis, and delay growth of foetus,
4.Narcotics:may lead to poor perception, cough, suppression, drowsiness, vomiting, sleepiness, constipation, unconsciousness and even death, and
5. Inhalants: can cause kidney damage, anaemia and bleeding stomach.
What are the Strategies for Arresting Drug Abuse?
Every Family should encourage the teaching of drug abuse in their home.
Every parent and adult should stop desist from using drug indiscriminately in the presence of children and youngsters.
All parents should prevent their adolescents from socialising with unknown gangs or suspicious neighbourhood peer groups.
Drug vendors and dealers should be investigated, trailed, arrested and prosecuted.
Illegal drug factories should be searched for, closed down and confiscated.
The sales of some legal drugs in the categories above should be monitored so that they should not be indiscriminately sold out to teenagers.
There should be counselling centre for drug control in every community by government or private individuals.
Qualified health counsellors should be employed in the counselling centre that will help the drug addict on how to go about withdrawing system.
Ministry of education in both state and federal in every country should design curricula on drug education at all levels of education.
National drug law enforcement agency (NDLEA) should be established or if established should help in intensifying campaign against drug abuse.
Students should be provide with effective study habit through sufficient recreational activities, adequate resting and sleeping time and well planned time table.
There should be creation of drug awareness units in the local, state and federal government levels.
Government should strive more in rehabilitating drug addicts than trying them as criminals.
The NDLEA agents expand their search operation to commercial buses, private cars, streets, schools, incomplete buildings, lonely areas and many suspicious places.
Media encouragement, through music, prints and televisions, of drug usage should be censored and discouraged.
Government should increase taxes on tobacco and alcohol industries.
marketing of addictive substances in a way is appealed to adolescents should restricted.
I HOPE YOU HAVE LEARNT ONE OR TWO THINGS IN THIS PIECE OF INFORMATION.
THANK YOU.
REFERENCES