DRUG ABUSE AND ITS REMEDIAL MEASURES

  Authour: Kr.S.Shushil Kumar Singh, Class X,  VKV Amliang  

Introduction: – “Drug is dangerous to try even for once”

             This statement itself tells us about the harmful and awful affect of drug. Drug is an evil that steals away a person’s health, time and money. But some people are not able to see this destructive nature of drug. They take drug just for the joy that they get for few minutes. They don’t realize about the loss they will face in future.

Body: – World Health Organization (WHO) define drug as any substance that when taken into living body, produces reaction and modifies it’s psychological and physiological functioning. Such a substance may be used to alleviate pain, suppress cough and reduce anxiety or at time to achieve certain level of euphoria.

          On other hand drug abuse and addiction has been defined as intake of legal drug at a regular basis to enjoy it’ psychic effect.

          There is a minor difference between “drug abuse” and “drug addiction”. In cases of drug abuse a person may or may not be addicted to drug. However in cases of drug addiction a person is severely addicted to drug.

           History of drug is as old as that of human kind. Human being always had a desire to eat or drink something which make them full relax. This desire has given birth to drugs. The first drug to be abused was homemade wine. It was used in religious rites. Different types of drugs were introduced from different part of world. Cannabis (drug obtain from hemp plant) was introduced in India in 2000 BC. And by the end of sixteenth century drugs like tobacco, hallucinogen and cannabis was globally used.

          With the phases of time, use of drug also increased and many new types of drug were introduced, like.

Cocaine: – This is also known as coke or snow. It can be injected to body, smoked or sniffed through straw.

Nacrotics: – It is a drug use to reduce pain, suppress cough and reduce pain and anxiety. Although narcotics are prescribe by doctor to those suffering from pain, abuse of narcotics is wide-spread in the United States. Some example of nacrotics is as follow.

  • Heroine
  • Morphine
  • Oxycodine
  • Methadone
  • Fentanyl
  • Vicodine
  • Coneine

          Drug abuse and addiction is a social problem that affect every one, everywhere either directly or in directly. Some of its affect are explained as follow.

Effect on individual: – It has a direct affect on individual consuming drug. Drug harms an addict in all the possible ways.

Effect on health: – It is said that “Health is wealth”. It is most precious gift of god which needs caring and maintenance. But when a person consumes drugs it leaves a long lasting impact on both mental and physical health. Drug harms an addict from all angles.

Effect on Education and society: – Education plays a vital role in bringing positive transformation within the society. A society develops as its educational level thrives. But this flow is disturb when unwanted element like drug enter our society.Beside this, drug has many other bad impacts on family, economy and other society element.

        Drug abuse and addiction is a chronic disease of our society. It has become serious problem in India. Drug abuse and addiction has resulted in increase in crime, tension and anxiety, lack of peace and security.

         Drug abuse and addiction has become wide-spread in India and a cause of concern for people and government. Many reasons are responsible for accentuating this problem of drug. But some of the most conspicuous factor among them is as follow.

  • Keeping contact with bad companies
  • Availability of drugs
  • peer pressure
  • curiosity
  • Personal trait
  • Parental influence

            Especially youth and student who stays away from family and home becomes addict to drug abuse. When a individual is addicted to drugs we can find some change within him. Signs and symptoms of drug abuse are as follow:

  • Sudden change in behavior
  • Withdrawal from family
  • Careless about personal glooming
  • Lack of interest in hobbies and sport
  • Red and glassy eyes
  • Runny and sniffy nose
  • Depression

                      Drug abuse and addiction is one of the biggest evil of our time. This must be erased from our society. If we want a better tomorrow we must eradicate drug today. Some steps which we can take against drug are as follow.

Awareness and Education:- Drug education in one of the most important tool against drug abuse. Proper education help in creating awareness about the danger connected with drug abuse. Drug abuse education must be integrated in college and school curricula.

Youth Centres:- Drug addiction may be caused due to the feeling of loneliness, anxiety and isolation. So NGOs and Social service organization must setup youth centers to overcome this feeling.

Counselling centres:-Counseling centers must be setup by NGOs, educational institutions and community centers where the addict would be motivated to overcome the addiction.

Strict laws: – There must be strict laws and severely hard punishment for drug abuse and drug traffickers.

Parental Support: – Parents must setup balmy and friendly atmosphere at home so that abuse feel easy to communicate with.Beside these remedial measures, we can also have some other treatment for drug abuse.

Hospitalization: – Addict must be Hospitalized. Through bio-chemical test it can be identified which drug the addict has been using and treatment can be done accordingly.

Occupational therapy: – In this therapy, the addict is given some constructional work while undergoing counseling.

Behavioral theraphy: – Addict must be given social environment consisting of peace, security and also some meditation practice.

         However it’s far better to always remain away from drugs than to get cure later because “Prevention is better than cure”.

Conclusion: – Treatment and remedial measures alone cannot put an end to this evil practice. It’s our will power, self realization and unity that can kick out drugs once for all.  People must realize that drugs are killer and it slices Health, education, society and creates havoc in human community. People must learn to say “No to drugs and save the families from ruin”.

       “Let us voice against drugs before it erase off our existence”.

          **The writer was awarded the first prize in essay competition on the topic “Drug abuse and its remedial measures”, during the 2nd late Kalikho Pul memorial Literary Competition held in Tezu from 9th to 10th August 2018.