By Tania Goklany:
Have we ever thought, why individuals, like you, me or practically anyone in the world succumb to substance abuse, in spite of knowing the dreadful consequences it holds for us? Yes we do, we’ve thought over it, we’re completely aware of its pitfalls, but we want to be ignorant of the aftershocks. Temptations gets the better of us and before indulging in this unruly abuse, our sockets literally bulge out when we see a fellow colleague doing drugs. I remember warning my friend doing drugs once “Man, you’re going to get yourself killed”, to which he retorts “At least I’ll die on a high and at that’s what’s important, isn’t it?” What does one expect to tell him after this? He, but obviously, needs to get into a rehab and take a high out of life and not drugs. But for some random reason, I didn’t say anything. I just watched him sniff in another snort of cocaine, raised an eyebrow, and made my way out.
These days, teens ranging between the age group of 15 to 19 years have this desperate age to go see what a pub is like. The first time they go, they see a pair snuggling, the next time their very own friends they’ve known for years boozing their way to their graves and before they know, they’re themselves graduating from “harmless” tequila shots to smoking pot and eventually trading coke, heroin etc. from wary drug peddlers. This is how it all starts in most cases. It’s like a ‘Smoky Gurukul’ where individuals graduate from different spheres of life, the only difference being graduating from low quality to high quality drugs.
Drug abuse causes hallucination. People literally get into the butterfly effect mode where they assume to be someone they aren’t. Kate Moss, the famous English Supermodel, was charged with drug abuse a while back. She was seen huffing punches of cocaine at a charity function hosted by Kofi Annan. After she checked out of the countryside rehabilitation centre, she gave an interview to The Sun, the daily London Tabloid, saying that it all started when she was a teenager and that it got worse when she began her career. She said that she hallucinated and also admitted to have forgotten her identity at a fashion festival. Seeing this example, one can definitely say that the consequences are fatal. Drugs damage the nerve cells and disable the liver.
It is said that nicotine is a chief constituent of marijuana and is often included in most drugs, but still drug stores keep cigarettes, with packs giving a statutory warning. As if, the warning will make a difference. Aren’t these shop owners indirectly stimulating substance abuse by indirectly being drug peddlers?
The writer is a Correspondent of Youth Ki Awaaz.
Image courtesy: http://www.drugfreehomes.org/2009/08/illicit-trafficking-of-drugs-stop-this.html